かわりに Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Phrase
Essential Meaning: In place of / Instead of / To make up for
Construction:
- Noun + の代わりに
- E.g. 先生の代わりに [In place of the teacher]
- (Verb / い-Adjective) informal + 代わりに
- E.g. 話す代わりに [Instead of speaking]
- E.g. 食べる代わりに [Instead of eating]
- E.g. 高い代わりに [Instead of being expensive]
- な-Adjective Stem + [な / だった] + 代わりに
- E.g. 静かな代わりに [Instead of being quiet]
Notes:
- かわりに (代わりに in kanji) basically means “In place of“, “Instead of“, or “To make up for“. Its usage depends on what part of speech precedes 代わりに.
- The structure Noun 1 の代わりに Noun 2 means “Noun 2 in place of / instead of Noun 1“. In other words, Noun 2 serves as a substitute for Noun 1 or takes Noun 1’s place. These nouns can be people or objects.
- E.g. ビールの代わりに酒を買いました。[Instead of beer, I bought sake.]
- E.g. 私の代わりに父が行ってもいいですか。 [Is it OK if my father goes in my place?]
- The structure Sentence 1 代わりに Sentence 2, means “Sentence 2 to make up for / to compensate for Sentence 1“. In other words, the action or state in Sentence 2 is performed in order to make up for some action or state in Sentence 1.
- E.g. 土曜日に仕事をする代わりに月曜日は休む。[To compensate for the fact that Saturday is a work day, I have Monday off.]
- E.g. 手伝ってあげる代わりに飲ませてください。[To compensate me for helping you, why don’t you buy me a drink?]
- E.g. 僕のアパートは不便な代わりに家賃が安い。[My apartment rent is cheap to compensate for the inconvenience.]
- In certain situations, Sentence 1 代わりに Sentence 2 is interchangeable with the conjunctions けれども or しかし to convey the same basic idea. However, けれども and しかし can only be replaced by 代わりに when there is a compensatory aspect to the sentences.
- E.g. 私は甘いものをたくさん食べるかわりに歯を良く磨く。[I brush my teeth well to compensate for the fact that I eat a lot of sweets.]
- E.g. 私は甘いものをたくさん食べるけれども、歯を良く磨く。[Although I eat a lot of sweets, I brush my teeth well.] In this case, けれども replaces 代わりに and the sentence still conveys the same basic compensatory meaning.
- E.g. 私は甘いものをたくさん食べる。しかし歯を良く磨く。[I eat a lot of sweets. However, I brush my teeth well.] In this case, しかし replaces 代わりに and the sentence still conveys the same basic compensatory meaning.
- *私は甘いものをたくさん食べる代わりに歯は強い。[To compensate for the fact that I eat a lot of sweets, my teeth are strong.] This sentence doesn’t make sense because the situation in Sentence 2 (i.e. “My teeth are strong“) is not brought about to compensate for the situation in Sentence 1 (i.e. “I eat a lot of sweets“). Instead, Sentence 1 is a pre-existing natural state and does not have a compensatory aspect. Therefore, 代わりに is inappropriate and should be replaced by しかし or けれども.
Example Sentences:
先生の代わりに私が教えた。[I taught in place of the teacher.]
土曜日に仕事をする代わりに月曜日は休む。[To compensate for the fact that Saturday is a work day, I have Monday off.]
今日は夜おそくまで踊る代わりに明日は一日中勉強します。[To compensate for the fact that I will be out late dancing tonight, I will study all day tomorrow.]
英語を教えてあげた代わりに日本語を教えてもらった。[To compensate me for teaching English, I was taught Japanese.]
その車は安かった代わりによく故障した。[In exchange for the fact that the car was cheap, it broke down often.]
WILD Examples:
***YouTube videos may be region-locked depending on your country of origin. If you experience issues, please try using a VPN set to a United States IP address.***