Hot answers tagged particle-de
14
The difference between using で and と is the difference between "we went out as a family" and "I went out with my family", I think of it as rather like the French "en famille". 家族で is very common expression and you can also hear this grammatical use when people refer to doing things as a group (グループで／皆でやりましょう).
It is another variation on the use of the で ...
9
Your question is about two different things:
The usage of particle で and particle に to express place vs. action.
The usage of particle は to highlight a matter in the sentence.
Understanding particle で vs. particle に
When you want to express where a certain action is taking place, you use particle で. Consider the following examples:
1a) My mom bought ...
6
The scope of だけ is different depending on where you put it.
このぬいぐるみを((日本だけ)で)手に入れます。- "You can get this plush toy in (only Japan)"
このぬいぐるみを((日本で)だけ)手に入れます。- "You can get this plush toy ((in Japan) only)"
Here it does not seem to show a big difference.
Translating from this source:
~だけで is typically used to mean "just this method/location/person will ...
6
I don't see much difference between:
[家]{いえ}に[一人]{ひとり}です。and 家で一人です。
[今]{いま}、家に[独]{ひと}りぼっちです。and 今、家で独りぼっちです。
[今夜]{こんや}は[部屋]{へや}に一人きりだ。and 今夜は部屋で一人きりだ。
I think we tend to use で in daily conversation and に when we write when we use 一人だ/独りぼっちだ etc. to mean "alone/there's nobody else in the room/house".
However, I see a slight difference between:
...
5
Adding も after で is possible and usual. See Particles で and も and でも.
Adding でも after で is also possible, and ででも is not unseen, but the first で is often omitted.
5
Simply, yes, で is just the 〜て form of だ. You could get into a whole discussion on this, but we can see the parallels between them.
Connecting
イ-adjective: 大きくて強い → Big and strong
ナ-adjective: きれいで頭がいい → Pretty and smart
Means/instrumentality
Verbs: 行ってくる → Go and come back ("Come back by means of (first) going")
Nouns: お箸【はし】で食べる → ...
4
Often when you see -niwa, you can expect a final ar-u or i-ru. It expresses existence. While English "at" is fine for a translation, you should rather interpret it as "in... are". The example 1) fits this pattern just fine.
In contrast, with -dewa you can expect to find an action. This is "at" rather than "in". In 2), the action is learning.
Bonus: There ...
4
What is the origin of these uses?
Instrumental: contraction of case particle -ni and particle -te. In many cases (*), you can interpret this as ni + verb + -te. In your example, it could be 車に乗って大阪に行った.
Locative: contraction of case particle -ni and particle -te. In many (*) cases, you can interpret this ni + verb + -te. In your example, it would be ...
3
I will attempt to build on from Chocolate's answer, and explain the grammar behind Chocolate's observation:
~~に一人/独り means "I'm (physically) alone/Nobody else is here", while ~~で一人/独り can be used for both "I'm (physically) alone" and "I'm (mentally) alone. I'm isolated.
In [location]に一人です, the location is an important part of the sentence; ...
3
You can see my answer to the question that Flaw asked and linked to a comment here, but I will state it again.
に is used when what the predicate means involves the location and will not make sense without it. Examples are: when someone/something is located somewhere (いる, ある), lives somewhere (住む), goes somewhere (行く), commutes to somewhere (通勤する, 通学する, ...
3
Short answer: each one has a different verb, hence a different particle.
The lesson and examples are probably about when to use は or が, not when to use に or で so the explanation does not make much sense because the topic it explains is not what you have doubts about.
Particles are always dependent on the verb they refine, so the question of the difference ...
3
では is not modifying います or 言う. That is just one of the definitions of では: 「...の場所で」; for/at a place.
京都ではもう春だ。 → It's already spring in Kyoto.
日本では is just setting the stage for the rest of the sentence; "In Japan", and then leave it at that. The rest of the sentence doesn't relate grammatically to it at all. It's not indicating the location where ...
2
The reason why で is used instead of に here can be attributed to two reasons:
There is large distance between います and 日本では.
The part separating them (クモを見ると良いことがあると言う) uses verbs which represent action which would make it more natural to use で because they are closer. When making sentences, people have a tendency to match the particles with verbs that are ...
1
I don't think this indicates a place of existence (February is not located in Japan), but a limitation/focusing on the statement that follows: Considering the weather in Japan, February is the coldest month. Out of mountains that are in Japan, Mount Fuji is the tallest, etc.
This で can be used with non-location words:
チーターは陸上{りくじょう}の動物で一番速いです (Cheetahs ...
1
と means literally "with"
で means "as"
In your first example "as a family" means the same as "with (the rest of) my family". But "as father" is different from "with my father"...
The difference in nuance is pretty close to English:
今日家族でレストランに行きます。
Today we will go to a restaurant as a family.
今日家族とレストランに行きます。
Today I will go to a restaurant ...
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