で As “Because Of”
“Great performers welcome pressure.” – John Eliot
Just like the previous version of the で particle, this one is related (though not exactly the same) to the first one. This で means “because of.”
“Because of ______ something happens”
Does that sound familiar to say… this?
“Using _____ I do something else”
It’s kind of similar… “because you’re using something, something else happens.” They’re different translations for something with a similar meaning. Still, it’s slightly different.
Noun Phrase + で + Phrase 2
a びょうき で がっこう に 行かなかった。
Because of sickness/illness, I didn’t go to school.
a 今日 は あめ だった ので くるま で行った。
Because of today’s rain, I went via car.
The first phrase should be a noun phrase. That is, it should end with a noun so that you can add the で to it (if you’ve noticed, all the で particles attache to nouns!).
a でんしゃで おくれた。
I was late because of the train.
a 昨日 の ゆき で しごと に 行かない つもりだ。
Because of yesterday’s snow, I plan to not go to work.
a この スパイダー で スパイダーマン に なったよ！
Because of this spider I became Spiderman! / By way of this spider, I became Spiderman!
With the last sentence (about Spiderman) you can see how there’s some ambiguity between the で particles… they kind of mean the same things, with similar but slightly different meanings. How would you know what the right translation is? Why, you’d use context. It’s hard to know what happened before and after the above sentence, but when you’re in a conversation it’s possible to figure out!
We’re going to move right on to the next で particle now, just because this one is so similar to the last one. Also, the next one is pretty similar as well. After that, we’ll practice them all together!