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I have read this, this and this, but I still do not understand why 「街{まち}に歩{ある}く」 is not grammatical.

The person who wrote this wanted to say "I will walk to town".

Herb
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3 Answers3

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According to a classic explanation, "pure motion verbs" such as 行く, 来る, 動く, 入る and 移動する can take both ~に and ~へ, but "motion manner verbs" such as 走る, 泳ぐ, 歩く and 飛ぶ tend not to take ~に. Verbs in the latter group do not even need a destination (e.g., 部屋をうろうろと歩く, プールで泳ぐ, 空を飛ぶ).

「駅に行く」が言えるのに、「駅に歩く」と言えないのはなぜ?

That said, there are many cases where ~に is used with 歩く/走る/飛ぶ. This is extensively discussed in this article. The author says that when the manner of a motion or a situation is more focused than the motion itself, ~に歩く tends to be more tolerated. ~に走る/~に飛ぶ tends to be tolerated when the cause of the action is unexpected and urgent.

  • 考え事をしながら駅に歩いている途中で、突然友達に出会った。
  • 急な知らせを受け、私はアメリカに飛んだ。
  • 財布を忘れたことに気づいて、スーパーに走りました。
naruto
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  • Thanks a lot for guiding me to this answer! However I still have some confused points after reading: – Sheepeagle Oct 18 '23 at 09:46
  • The standard to distinguish"pure motion verbs" and "motion manner verbs" seems unclear to me, since 動く and 移動する also don't necessarily need a direction(e.g., 一歩も動けなかった,遊牧民たちは絶えず移動した). 2. Why can まで be used in "motion manner verbs", where the usage of に and へ are ungrammatical?
  • – Sheepeagle Oct 18 '23 at 09:58
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    @Sheepeagle Yes it seems unclear to me, too, but this is not something that can be answered in a few sentences, and I don't understand it fully. Please read the linked article. I feel 移動する purely refers to a place change even when the destination is not explicitly stated, but 動く does not necessarily involve a change in place. Xまで does not require a place change in the first place (e.g., 夜まで勉強する), which I think is why it goes well with 泳ぐ, etc. – naruto Oct 19 '23 at 00:59