The Various Meanings Of で
“Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.” – Robert F. Kennedy
There are many ways to use で, and it can be a little confusing. We’ll try to alleviate some of that confusion by giving you a lot of sentences to practice, which will force you to differentiate between the meanings (and learn them all pretty well). We’ll be going through the different “ways” to do で one by one, including some practice with each. Then, at the end, you’ll practice all of them together (along with previous grammar and previous vocab).
Let’s take a quick look at the different meanings right now, though, just to give you an idea of what’s in store for you.
1. で as “At,” “In,” “On”
This version of で is probably the most common as well as the easiest to use. It also sets us up for the other ways to use で, which are all slightly related to this one.
2. で As “By Way Of,” “Via,” “Using”
“By way of ____ I did ____” – that’s what this で does. It’s probably the second most common usage, and quite helpful. You can say things like “I went to work via bus.”
3. で As “Because Of”
This で is kind of like the #2 で. It’s technically “because of” but it’s really the same thing as “by way of.”
If you think about it, what’s the difference between “I went to work by way of train” and “I went to work because of a train.” Technically, both are true – it’s really the translation that’s more different. Still, this で and the other で are classified as different. I just wanted to show you how they relate.
4. で To Indicate Time
This で will show you when something is happening. “At 5 o’clock blah blah blah blah blah.” If you think about it, this で is also like the #1 で. You’re indicating that something is happening “at” a certain time (rather than at a place, but it’s really all still the same).
Now, these are a lot of different meanings for one particle… but the good thing is that they’re actually all kind of related as long as you expand your mind a bit. We’re going to start with the simplest one … the one that will be the building block to the harder ones. They’re all not that bad, but it’s much better when you build, yeah?