Recall from Lesson 7 that "I go to the store." is "Watashi wa mise ni ikimasu." This means that "I went to the store." is "Mise ni ikimashita." To add a bit more information to this, we can say how we got to the store. To do this, we need to use the particle de. De roughly means "by means of", "at" or "in" depending upon how it's used. In this lesson, we'll be using the 'by means of' meaning.

De is a particle and therefore it follows the term it modifies.

Examples:

kuruma de
jitensha de
basu de
densha de

by car
by bike
by bus
by train

(Watashi wa) kuruma de mise ni ikimashita.

I went to the store by car.

Lesson 13 Vocabulary:

jitensha
basu
densha

mise
ginkou

watashitachi

de

bicycle
bus
train

shop/store
bank

we/us

particle meaning 'by means of'