N5 · Particles
で: where it happens, and with what
the particle of place of action and means
で marks where an action takes place, the means it uses, what something is made of, and a cause.
The first job of で is the place where an action happens: 図書館で勉強します, "I study at the library". Whatever is done — eating, working, meeting, buying — is done で a place. Compare 公園に犬がいます, "there is a dog in the park", with 公園で犬が遊んでいます, "a dog is playing in the park": the same park, two particles, because the second sentence describes an activity.
The second is the means: a vehicle, a tool, a language. バスで行きます, お箸で食べます, 日本語で話します — "by bus", "with chopsticks", "in Japanese". Three English prepositions, one Japanese particle.
The third is the material something is made of — 木で作った机 — and a cause expressed as a noun: 風邪で休みました, "I was off with a cold". A cause that is a whole clause uses から or ので instead.
で also draws a boundary around a number or a group: 三人で is "the three of us together", 全部で is "altogether", and in 日本で一番 it marks the field in which something is the most. English speakers most often go wrong with the first use, writing に for the place of an action because English says "in" or "at" for both.
The form
| place of an action | 図書館で勉強します。 |
| means of transport | 毎日自転車で会社に行きます。 |
| tool | お箸で食べます。 |
| language | 日本語で話してください。 |
| material | この机は木でできています。 |
| cause | 風邪で会社を休みました。 |
| a total | 全部で三千円です。 |
The rules one by one
The place where an action happens takes で.
駅の前で待っています。I am waiting in front of the station.
Means of transport, tools and languages take で.
タクシーで帰りましょう。Let's take a taxi home.
A noun that names a cause takes で.
事故で電車が遅れました。The train was delayed because of an accident.
A number of people or a total takes で: how many together, how much altogether.
家族四人で旅行しました。The four of us in the family went on a trip.
In a superlative, で marks the group or area the comparison is made in.
富士山は日本で一番高い山です。Mount Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan.
A closer look
で as the frame around an action
All the uses of で describe the circumstances of an action: where it happens, with what, out of what, because of what, and within which group. That is why one sentence can carry several of them: 公園で子どもたちがボールで遊んでいます, "in the park the children are playing with a ball".
One look-alike to keep apart: で is also the linking form of です. In 兄は医者で、姉は先生です, "my brother is a doctor and my sister is a teacher", the で is not a particle of place but "is, and". The word before it and the shape of the sentence tell the two apart.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
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the verb is 住む, 座る or another verb of ending up somewhere
the place takes に, although English feels the verb as something you do.
椅子に座ってください。Please sit on the chair.
These verbs describe where you are when it is over, not an activity you carry out there.
How to spot it
- で
- で食べる
- バスで
- 日本語で
- 全部で
- 二人で
Example sentences
レストランで晩ご飯を食べました。We had dinner at a restaurant.
新幹線で大阪に行きます。I am going to Osaka by bullet train.
ボールペンで書いてください。Please write with a ballpoint pen.
雪で道が危ないです。The roads are dangerous because of the snow.
一人で旅行するのが好きです。I like travelling on my own.
この箱は紙でできています。This box is made of paper.
8 more example sentences
会社の食堂で昼ご飯を食べます。I have lunch in the company canteen.
メールで連絡します。I will get in touch by email.
これは英語で何と言いますか。What is this called in English?
病気で一週間休みました。I was off for a week because I was ill.
二人でケーキを半分ずつ食べました。The two of us ate half the cake each.
このりんごは三つで五百円です。These apples are five hundred yen for three.
駅でお土産を買いました。I bought souvenirs at the station.
世界で一番長い川は何ですか。What is the longest river in the world?
Worth knowing (1)
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で or から for what something is made of
When the material can still be seen in the result — a wooden desk, a paper box — Japanese uses で. When it has been changed beyond recognition, から is the natural choice: ワインはぶどうから作ります, "wine is made from grapes". Speakers do not always keep the line sharp, but the difference is real.
豆腐は大豆から作ります。Tofu is made from soya beans.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English uses "in" and "at" both for where something is and for where something happens. Japanese does not: に is the place where something exists or arrives, で is the stage on which an action is performed. Look at the verb: if it describes doing something, the place takes で.
Things are に a place; things happen で a place.
Your turn
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