TransWikia.com

Can に be translated to "be"?

Japanese Language Asked by Maiyah on January 30, 2021

I’ve been trying to learn Japanese for a little over a month now which let me finally read this little tag line on a My Hero Academia poster I have 「最高のヒーローに」

Once I looked up the meaning of each Kanji I gathered that is meant something along the lines of "the best of heroes" or just "the best hero." When I checked, I found out it translates to "be the best hero" so I was close. Awesome.

However that に at the end started messing me up when I thought about it. Thanks to my lessons, Google and other questions on here, I’ve seen that the particle に is used for stuff like destination and time, being translated to "to" or "at" but I don’t get it here. Can it be used for stuff like "I’m going/want to be" or to mark goals too?

One Answer

Yes, ~に roughly means "to ~", "at ~" or "for ~". Here, a verb like なる ("to become") is omitted, and に indeed adds the nuance of "I'm going to be" or "I want to become".

Catchphrases and news headlines often end with a particle, leaving out the corresponding verb for brevity. You have to infer the omitted verb, which is not really difficult once you've got used to common patterns.

Answered by naruto on January 30, 2021

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question

Get help from others!

© 2024 TransWikia.com. All rights reserved. Sites we Love: PCI Database, UKBizDB, Menu Kuliner, Sharing RPP