In constructs like ～が原因で起こった～ is the で the て form of だ?
For example in: 旦那や子どもへの嫉妬が原因で起こったママ友トラブル
I assume it is for the が to make sense, but I can't find any information on this, so if anyone knows an answer would be greatly appreciated!
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Could you post the whole sentences? Right now, the answer is clear only with the first phrase. – l'électeur Feb 7 at 16:16
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@l'électeur I just added an example sentence, and I removed ～が理由で～ since I only added that as an afterthought to the question – Jake Lucas Feb 7 at 16:20
「旦那{だんな}や子{こ}どもへの嫉妬{しっと}が原因{げんいん}で起{お}こったママ友{とも}トラブル」
That 「で」 is a particle and not a copula.
It can generally be said that 「で」 would be a particle unless it could grammatically and contextually be replaced by 「であり」、「であって」、「であり、そして」, etc.
In the phrase in question, the 「で」 cannot be replaced by one of those phrases.
A good example of the copula 「で」 can be seen in this Q&A:
How to parse 中国人で日本語が話せる方は、お電話ください。
If you had a sentence such as:
「トラブルの原因はＡで、Ｂではない。」
then, that 「で」 in bold would certainly be a copula in the 連用形{れんようけい} ("continuative form").
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As a side note, the particle で as in the example sentence is the same で as in the copula -- the copular uses of で are a more recent development, deriving from the use of particle で in the phrasal copular construction ～であり. In modern Japanese, the particle で is functionally and semantically different from the copular で, even though historically they come from the same thing. – Eiríkr Útlendi Feb 8 at 0:19
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Ok, that makes sense. I had always previously thought of it as the particle, but for some reason this time I started focusing on the が more and that in turn made me start questioning whether the で was actually the copula or not. – Jake Lucas Feb 8 at 0:48
