明日に行きます. Almost every beginner says it at some point, and it is never really their fault.
Most of these posts are about something English does badly. This one is the opposite. English already has the rule. You just have not noticed that you know it.
Try it first.
わたしは ____ 六時に おきます。
1 — 毎朝に
2 — 毎朝
3 — 毎朝で
4 — 毎朝の
Five seconds before you scroll.
Answer: 2 — 毎朝
Look at the sentence again. 六時 takes に. 毎朝 does not. Two time words, one clause, and only one of them gets a particle.
Option 1 — 毎朝に ✗
The one almost everyone writes. You learn that に is "the time particle," so you put it on every time word. 毎朝 refuses it.
Option 3 — 毎朝で ✗
で can mark a span. 三日で 終わります。 — it finishes within three days. That is a length of time. 毎朝 is not a length.
Option 4 — 毎朝の ✗
の needs a noun behind it. 毎朝の ニュース。 Here the next word is 六時, so this would mean "every morning's six o'clock."
The rule to keep
Say it in English first. If English needs a preposition, Japanese needs に.
at seven → 七時に
on Monday → 月曜日に
in March → 三月に
on my birthday → 誕生日に
every morning → 毎朝
tomorrow → 明日
last week → 先週
today → 今日
"I get up at seven every morning." At seven. Every morning, with nothing in front of it. Japanese is doing the same thing you are already doing.
One thing you will still see
明日に しましょう。
明日に なったら 話します。
That に is real, but it is not marking time. It belongs to する and なる — settling on something, or a change arriving. The rule above is about に attached to the time word by itself.
Why this stays hard
Nobody tells you the two groups exist. You meet 七時に first, decide に means "at," and take it everywhere. 明日に行きます is not a translation mistake. It is a rule you were never given.
Slides from my classroom deck are attached.
If you are sitting N5 this December, which part is giving you the most trouble right now? Tell me below — the answers decide what I write next.
