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言われるままを払った

"I paid as I was told to" Wouldn't it be 言われるままで払った? Are both correct? I mean theres not something called to way I was told that you can pay with right?

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When まま means "as-is" or "without modification", まま can work as a noun, a no-adjective and an adverb. You cannot say ままで:

"to pay as told"

  • 言われるままを払う: OK
  • 言われるままに払う: OK
  • 言われるまま払う: OK
  • *言われるままで払う: wrong

"to speak as one feels" / "to describe one's feelings as-is"

  • 感じたままを話す: OK
  • 感じたままに話す: OK
  • 感じたまま話す: OK
  • *感じたままで話す: wrong

(～た)ままで can be used when a certain state persists for a while:

  • 座ったままで動かない
  • 座ったまま動かない
  • 様子を見に行ったままで連絡がない
  • 様子を見に行ったまま連絡がない
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  • I understood everything but the を particle, why can it be attached to both of the two examples you just said?
    – Soya
    Jun 4, 2019 at 16:22
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    @Irene Because まま is basically a noun, as any dictionary monolingual says. But it's hard to directly translate to English..."the same state", "something unchanged"? For example you can say トマトは生のままが美味しい, 生まれたままの姿, 言われたままの金額を払う, etc.
    – naruto
    Jun 4, 2019 at 16:30
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    @user3856370 In that case you cannot use まま. You have to say 言われたとおり払ったよ or something like that.
    – naruto
    Jun 7, 2019 at 8:46
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    @Irene I think naruto's suggestion of 言われたとおり払った would work for that too. This とおり means 'in accordance with' / 'in the same way as' / 'as' etc.
    – user3856370
    Jun 8, 2019 at 8:42
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    @Irene 言われたままを払った only refers to the amount of money, but 言われた通り払った is a rather flexible expression and it can refer to the paying method and/or the amount of money depending on the context.
    – naruto
    Jun 8, 2019 at 9:04

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