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The following sentence is from a blog called Nippon Talk:

お湯{ゆ}を使{つか}える洗濯機{せんたくき}のパワーに感動{かんどう}した夫{おっと}は、沖縄{おきなわ}旅行{りょこう}から帰{かえ}るとすぐにその洗濯機{せんたくき}についての情報{じょうほう}を調{しら}べ始{はじ}めた。

I'm trying to pick apart the words in an effort to understand Japanese grammar.

Here's the first part:

お湯{ゆ}を使{つか}える洗濯機{せんたくき}のパワーに感動{かんどう}した夫{おっと}は、・・・
Oyu o tsukaeru sentakuki no pawaa ni kandoushita otto wa...

I translated this as:

お湯を使える洗濯機
Oyu o tsukaeru sentakuki
'washing machine that uses hot water'

and

・・・のパワーに感動した夫は
…no pawaa ni kandoushita otto wa
'husband that is excited by the power of washing machine that uses hot water'

Why are the particles を (o) and に (ni) used in the way that they are?

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1 Answer 1

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You did a good job translating these sentences!

を marks the object for the verb 使える. What can be used by the wash mashine? Hot water.

に is here a bit more tricky and indicates a reason, why he gets excited. Two humorous examples (from the anime AcchiKocchi) with this "reason"-usage:

[寒]{さむ}さに[震]{ふる}えるつみきさんを籠に乗せて早く暖かい地へ (つみきさん is shivering, because of cold.)


さっきの先生には[驚]{おどろ}いたな。あまりの[白]{しろ}さに (I was surprised, because of our teacher. Because of all the white)

どういう意味だ? (What do you mean?)

先生の下着白だったようじゃな (Her underwear was white, wasn't it?)

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  • Thank you very much. So basically it means that the power of the hot-water washing machine was the reason that he got excited? Sep 5, 2015 at 3:47
  • Exactly! You might also want to read a good overall description about the に particle: imabi.net/l24theparticleni.htm . He says "に shows deep establishment of an action or state. It is for the most part equivalent to "at". ", which works quite well for your sentence: He got surprised at the power... Sep 5, 2015 at 6:59

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