The Direction-Indicating Particle

The basic function of "ni" is to indicate toward who or what
the action of a verb that follows it is directed.

Kanojo ni hon o agemasita.
she/her book gave
(I/Someone) gave (a) book (to) her.

Kare ni denwa o kakemasita.
he/him telephoned
(I/Someone) telephoned him.

Toukyou ni sunde imasu.
Tokyo live
(I/Someone) live/lives (in) Tokyo.

Roku-ji ni dekakemasita.
6:00 left
(I/Someone) left (at) 6:00.

Ginza ni ikimasita.
Ginza went
(I/Someone) went (to) Ginza.

Heya ni imasu.
room is
(I/Someone) am/is (in) (the) room.

Isu ni suwatte imasu.
chair sitting
(I/Someone) am/is sitting (in) (the) chair.

Basu ni norimasita.
bus boarded
(I/Someone) boarded (the) bus.

Teburu no ue ni okimasita.
table top placed
(I/Someone) placed (something) (on) top (of) (the) table.

As is apparent in the above examples, to render the Japanese utterances
that use the "ni" structural particle into English, either no English
word is required to represent "ni" (ex. "telephoned him") or the prepositions
"to", "in", "at", or "on" are required. But "ni" in and of itself has none
of the meanings of these English prepositions. It (like all of the other
structural particles in Japanese) has no meaning. -- Let me say that again,
with feeling :-) IT HAS NO MEANING! -- It is simply the structural particle
"ni", which has a number of functions, in the sense of "assigned duties",
but NO MEANING.

The above utterances represent five of its functions, all of them based
on its basic function of indicating toward who or what the action of a verb
is directed.

Please check out No.6 of CyberTutorial 1:
Ten Differences Between Japanese and English That Make Japanese An Easy Language To Learn

and

all of CyberTutorial 2:
Particles vs. Patterns -- Verbal Guideposts in Speaking Japanese.

for additional discussion of the fact that structural particles in Japanese
have no meaning, only functions. This is the most important point you can get a handle on in setting out to master Japanese!

"ni" has three other major functions:

After the base of one verb and followed by another verb to indicate
the purpose or object of an action:

Eiga o mi ni ikimasita.
movie see went
(I/Someone) went (to) see (a) movie.

Hon o kai ni ikimasita.
book buy went
(I/Someone) went (to) buy (a) book.

Susi o tabe ni ikimasita.
sushi eat went
(I/Someone) went (to) eat sushi.

After a noun that implies an action:

Kaimono ni ikimasita.
shopping went
(I/Someone) went shopping.

Sukii ni ikimasita.
ski went
(I/Someone) went skiing.

Followed by the verb naru, "become":

Isha ni narimasita.
doctor became
(I/Someone) became (a) doctor.

Daigakusei ni narimasita.
college student became
(I/Someone) became (a) college student.

Otona ni narimasita.
adult became
(I/Someone) became (an) adult.

Several other functions of the structural particle ni:

After a "present-tense" verb clause, and followed by the topic-
indicating particle wa to indicate that the entire verb clause is the
topic of the sentence:

Kono hon o yomu ni wa futuka kakarimasita.
(As for) reading this book, (it) took two days.

To indicate the period of time over which an action takes place:

Isshuukan ni taisou o sankai yarimasu.
(I) do exercise three times (a) week.

In several idioms:

... ni yotte / ... ni yoreba
"According to ...", "Depending on ..."

... ni tuite
"Concerning ..."

... ni tigai nai
"Without doubt...", "Surely ..."

Sample Sentences:

Kare wa sono hon o Tanaka-san ni agemasita.
He that book Tanaka-san gave
He gave that book (to) Tanaka-san.

Kesa goji ni okimasita.
this morning 5:00 got up
This morning (I) got up (at) 5:00.

Tanaka-san wa tonari no heya ni imasu.
Tanaka-san next room is
Tanaka-san is (in) (the) next room

Konban eiga o mi ni ikimashou ka.
tonight movie see shall go
Tonight shall (we) go (to) see (a) movie?

Kanojo wa daitouryouu ni naru tumori desu.
she president becomes intends
She intends (to) become president.

Sannin de eiga o mi ni ikimasita.
three people movie see go
(The) three (of us) went (to) see (a) movie.

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