に Particle (Passive / Causative) Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Particle
Essential Meaning: By / From (marks the agent or source in a passive or causative sentence)
Construction:
- Source + に
- E.g. 先生に [From the teacher]
- Agent + に
- E.g. 先生に [By the teacher]
Notes:
- に (Passive / Causative) is used to used to mark the agent of the main action in causative and passive sentences. For example, “Joe was eaten by a tiger” is a passive sentence in which Joe is the subject and the tiger is the agent of the main action (i.e. eating). Thus, the tiger would be marked by に (Causative / Passive). Similarly, “Greg forced Joe to eat green peas” is a causative sentence in which Greg is the subject and Joe is the agent of the main action (i.e eating peas). Thus, Joe would be marked by に (Causative / Passive). Note that Joe is forced to eat the peas in this example and has little actual agency over the situation. With the causative form, the causee is marked by に (Causative / Passive) when the main verb is transitive, regardless of the causee’s volition. You can learn more about the causative form here.
- E.g. ジョーは虎に食べられた。[Joe was eaten by a tiger.]
- E.g. グレーグはジョーにグリーンピースを食べさせた。[Greg forced Joe to eat green peas.]
- に (Passive / Causative) is also used with verbs such as もらう [To receive], 借りる [To borrow] , 聞く [To hear], 習う [To learn], and 教わる [To be taught] to indicate the source of some favor or action. This construction is analogous to prepositional phrases that begin with the preposition “From“, as in “I received a gift from my mother”, “I borrowed butter from my neighbor”, “John learned karate from his sensei”, et cetera.
- E.g. ジェーンは山野先生に生花を習った。[Jen learned ikebana from Yamano-sensei.]
- E.g. 僕はアメリカ人に英語を教えてもらった。[I learned English from an American.]
- When に (Passive / Causative) marks a source of an action or favor, に (Passive / Causative) can be interchanged with から. The difference is that に (Passive / Causative) conveys psychological closeness to a human source, while から does not. Thus, に (Passive / Causative) can not be used when the source is non-human, such as a public or academic institution.
- E.g. ジェーンは山野先生に生花を習った。[Jen learned ikebana from Yamano-sensei.]
- E.g. ジェーンは山野先生から生花を習った。[Jen learned ikebana from Yamano-sensei.]
- E.g. ビルは文部省から奨学金をもらいました。[Bill received a scholarship from the Ministry of Education.]
- E.g. *ビルは文部省に奨学金をもらいました。[Bill received a scholarship from the Ministry of Education.] It is inappropriate to use に (Passive / Causative) when the source is non-human.
Example Sentences:
一男は友達に手紙を読まれた。[Kazuo had his letter read by a friend (and Kazuo was not OK with that).]
秋子は浩にご飯を作らせた。[Akiko made Hiroshi cook the meal.]
私は父に車を買ってもらった。[My father bought a car for me.]
ジェーンは山野先生に生花を習った。[Jen learned ikebana from Yamano-sensei.]
A: そのネクタイはだれにもらったんですか。B: 父にもらいました。[A: From whom did you receive that necktie? B: I got it from my father.]
僕はアメリカ人に英語を教えてもらった。[I was taught English by an American.]
兄は私に五時間も運転させました。[My older brother made me drive for as long as 5 hours.]
A: 吉田さんが結婚したそうですよ。B: そうですか。だれに聞きましたか。[A: I heard that Yoshida-san is married. B: Is that so? What did you hear that from?]
WILD Examples:
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