The で Particle: Means and Location of Action

The で particle is a 格助詞 (kakujoshi, "case particle"). It marks the situational condition under which a predicate holds: the place, instrument, cause, material, or span the verb is evaluated against.^{1 2 3} One particle has five surface uses, tied together by one intuition.

Overview

What で is, in one line

で marks the frame a predicate is evaluated against. That frame may be the place where an action happens, the tool that enables it, the cause that produces it, the material that composes it, or the span it fits inside. All five are conditions under which the verb is true, not participants the verb acts on.^{1 4}

Two pedagogical syntheses converge on the same intuition. 80/20 Japanese names で "what's required to perform the action": you need to be at the place, you need the tool, you need the material.⁴ Tofugu draws it geometrically as "the lines that demarcate the edges of a volleyball court": で bounds the scene the action plays out in.⁵

Reference grammars list the five senses as separate case-particle entries that share the same form. Their unity is morphological and historical, and the modern learner can treat them as one intuition.^{1 6}

学校がっこうで勉強べんきょうする。⁷
"I study at school." (Location of action.)

バスで来きました。⁸
"I came by bus." (Means.)

病気びょうきで休やすみました。⁹
"I was absent because of illness." (Cause.)

Classification and register

で belongs to the 格助詞 (case-particle) inventory of 学校文法 (school grammar). This closed class marks grammatical roles on noun phrases: が, を, に, で, へ, と, から, より, まで.^{2 3 10}

The particle is neutral across politeness levels. It is written as the single hiragana で in both polite and plain speech, and the politeness contrast sits on the verb that follows, not on the particle.^{1 2 11}

A more formal written alternative is the compound にて, from which で historically derives. にて survives in business documents, ceremonial speech, and formal written prose. In everyday Japanese, で is the unmarked form, and にて signals deliberate formality.^{7 6}

Formal にて in real-world prose

The compound にて has not died out. It is the standard particle in ceremonial sentences such as "会議かいぎは本社ほんしゃにて開催かいさいいたします" ("the meeting will be held at headquarters"), where で would feel too casual.^{7 6} A learner who writes で in casual speech is correct. Anyone who reads business email will encounter にて.

JLPT level and where it appears

で is core N5 across all five senses covered in this article.^{12 7 8} On the test, で appears in the first reading passages without a separate gloss, alongside は, が, を, and に.^{12 7}

Standard N5 textbooks introduce it within the first ten to thirteen lessons. Genki I covers location-of-action で in chapter 3, means-で in chapter 4, and cause-で in chapter 10. Minna no Nihongo I covers the same set across lessons 5 through 13, with time-frame で in lesson 11.^{13 14}

The single highest-confusion point at N5 is the に / で choice for location (学校に vs 学校で). Both major beginner textbooks introduce the contrast within two chapters of each other and devote explicit exercise space to it.^{13 14 15}

Beyond N5, で extends into further uses: scope of comparison (日本にほんで一番いちばん高たかい山やま "the tallest mountain in Japan"), state-of-doing (裸足はだしで歩あるく "walk barefoot"), and condition (この値段ねだんで売うる "sell at this price"). They are listed here only to show what this article deliberately leaves out.^{1 11}

Form and pronunciation

Surface form

The case particle で is written as the single hiragana で and pronounced [de]. Phonetically, that is a voiced alveolar stop followed by a mid front unrounded vowel.^{1 2} It carries no pitch accent of its own and inherits the prosodic shape of the noun phrase it attaches to.¹

で attaches directly to a noun, or to a noun-equivalent phrase such as a nominalised clause: [noun] + で. It does not attach to a verb stem.^{1 2}

The で that appears after a verb (死んで, 読んで, 元気で, 学生で) is a different morpheme entirely, treated in the "Good to know" section below.²

Same kana, three different morphemes

The hiragana で appears at the end of three unrelated grammatical items: the case particle (noun + で), the te-form of the copula だ (noun-predicate or na-adjective + で linking clauses), and the te-form ending of -ぬ, -ぶ, -む verbs (verb-stem + で from euphonic voicing). The shape is identical, but the grammar is not. Each is covered separately below.²

学校がっこうで勉強べんきょうする。⁷
"I study at school." (で attaches to the noun 学校.)

鉛筆えんぴつで書かきます。⁸
"I write with a pencil." (で attaches to the noun 鉛筆.)

三日みっかで終おわります。⁹
"It will be finished in three days." (で attaches to the time-quantity noun.)

Position in the clause

A で-phrase typically comes before the verb and can move freely with other oblique phrases in the same clause.^{1 2} Japanese is head-final: only the predicate is fixed at the end of the clause. Case-marked noun phrases can be reordered without changing their grammatical roles because each noun carries its own case marker.^{16 2}

The usual default places the で-phrase after the topic and before the direct object, but native discourse often fronts a で-phrase for emphasis. Both orderings below are grammatical. The second foregrounds the location.¹⁶

私わたしは図書館としょかんで本ほんを読よむ。¹¹
"I read books at the library." (Default order: topic, place, object, verb.)

図書館としょかんで私わたしは本ほんを読よむ。¹⁶
"At the library, I read books." (Fronted for location emphasis.)

Multiple で-phrases with different senses can appear in one clause when their senses do not collide. Teaching materials often avoid this for clarity, but a sentence such as 学校がっこうで鉛筆えんぴつで書かく ("[I] write with a pencil at school") is perfectly grammatical.^{1 11}

毎朝まいあさ、公園こうえんでジョギングします。¹¹
"Every morning, I go jogging in the park."

The five core uses of で

Reference grammars list the five senses below as separate case-particle entries.¹ They share one particle because they share one function: each names the condition under which the predicate holds. Read them as five domains of a single rule, not five unrelated meanings.

1. Location of action (学校で勉強する)

With dynamic event verbs, で marks the place where the action happens.^{1 13 14 5 11} The standard N5 pattern is [place-noun + で] + [event verb]. Typical examples are 学校がっこうで勉強べんきょうする ("study at school") and 公園こうえんで遊あそぶ ("play in the park").^{13 14 5}

The semantic test: if the verb names something the subject does (study, play, eat, work, swim, dance, meet, watch, write), で is the right particle for the place.^{1 5} If the verb names something the subject is or stays as (ある, いる, 住む, 勤める), に is the right particle; the full treatment is in the に / で section below.^{1 15}

The location can be a literal physical place, a virtual or institutional place (会社かいしゃ, インターネット), or a metaphorical scene (心こころの中なかで "in [one's] heart"). All work because all are scenes of action.^{1 11}

学校がっこうで勉強べんきょうします。⁷
"I study at school."

公園こうえんでサッカーをします。⁵
"I play soccer in the park."

レストランで友達ともだちに会あいました。⁸
"I met my friend at the restaurant."

家いえでテレビを見みます。¹³
"I watch TV at home."

海うみで泳およぎました。¹¹
"I swam in the sea."

A small group of verbs sits on the boundary between "stative" and "eventive": 起おきる, 寝ねる, 集あつまる, 立たつ, 座すわる. The diagnostic is whether the verb names a moment of change or a state held over time. 公園こうえんで集あつまる ("gather in the park," dynamic event) takes で. 椅子いすに座すわっている ("be seated in the chair," resulting state) takes に on the destination.^{1 11} These verbs and the existence-of-event use (パーティーは渋谷である) belong in the dedicated に vs で for location article. They are noted here only as a forward pointer.

2. Means and instrument (バスで来る, 鉛筆で書く)

で marks the means or instrument used to perform the action: the tool, vehicle, body part, language, or method that enables the verb.^{1 13 14 5 4} Common English glosses are "by," "with," "in," and "using." The structural rule is [means-noun + で] + [action verb].^{1 5}

This use covers five common sub-categories:^{1 5 11}

• Tool or implement: 鉛筆えんぴつで書かく ("write with a pencil"), 箸はしで食たべる ("eat with chopsticks").
• Vehicle or transport: バスで来くる ("come by bus"), 電車でんしゃで行いく ("go by train"), 車くるまで通勤つうきんする ("commute by car").
• Body part: 手てで触さわる ("touch with one's hand"), 目めで見みる ("see with one's eyes").
• Language or medium: 日本語にほんごで話はなす ("speak in Japanese"), メールで連絡れんらくする ("contact by email").
• Method or manner: 自分じぶんでやる ("do it oneself"), 一人ひとりで行いく ("go alone").

The "situational condition" intuition holds throughout: the means is the condition that has to be in place for the action to happen. Without the pencil there is no writing; without the bus there is no coming.⁴

鉛筆えんぴつで書かきます。⁸
"I write with a pencil."

バスで学校がっこうへ行いきます。¹³
"I go to school by bus."

箸はしで食たべます。¹¹
"I eat with chopsticks."

日本語にほんごで話はなしましょう。⁵
"Let's speak in Japanese."

手てで食たべないでください。¹¹
"Please do not eat with your hands."

On foot is a lexical exception

For going somewhere on foot, the idiomatic expression is 歩あるいて行いく (literally "walk and go"). It uses the te-form of 歩あるく rather than a noun with で. The kango noun 徒歩とほ ("on foot") is the formal alternative that does take で: 徒歩とほで行いく ("go on foot"). The form 歩あるきで行いく is heard occasionally but is non-standard.¹¹

3. Cause and reason (病気で休む)

で marks the objective cause of the predicate: an event, condition, or state that brings about the outcome. It usually appears with intransitive verbs or stative predicates.^{1 13 9 11} The standard pattern is [cause-noun + で] + [intransitive or stative predicate]. A typical sentence is 病気びょうきで休やすむ ("be absent because of illness").^{1 9}

Cause-で usually marks a non-volitional, situational cause: illness, accidents, weather, natural events, emotions, and other states the speaker did not choose.^{1 9 11}

• Illness or physical condition: 風邪かぜで休やすむ ("be absent because of a cold").
• Weather or natural events: 雨あめで試合しあいが中止ちゅうしになった ("the match was cancelled because of rain").
• Accident or external event: 事故じこで遅おくれる ("be late because of an accident").
• Emotion or mental state: 緊張きんちょうで手てが震ふるえる ("hands tremble from nervousness").

The case particle で is preferred when the predicate is intransitive or stative (休やすむ, 遅おくれる, 止とまる, 死しぬ, 倒たおれる, できない). It is dispreferred when the predicate is a volitional action chosen by the speaker. For that use, から or ので is more natural.^{1 9}

病気びょうきで学校がっこうを休やすみました。⁹
"I was absent from school because of illness."

雨あめで試合しあいが中止ちゅうしになりました。¹¹
"The match was cancelled because of the rain."

事故じこで電車でんしゃが遅おくれています。⁸
"The trains are delayed because of an accident."

地震じしんで多おおくの家いえが倒たおれた。⁹
"Many houses collapsed because of the earthquake."

緊張きんちょうで手てが震ふるえました。¹¹
"My hands trembled from nervousness."

The case particle で and the conjunctions から / ので mark different parts of speech. で attaches to a single cause-noun and presents an objective situational cause, while から and ので link two clauses to express the speaker's subjective reasoning.^{1 9 17}

Both 雨あめだから試合しあいを中止ちゅうしした and 雨あめで試合しあいを中止ちゅうしした are grammatical. The first foregrounds the speaker's reasoning. The second presents the rain as the situational cause.^{9 17} A full から / ので / で comparison belongs in a dedicated kara-particle article and in the conjunctions-and-connectives subcategory of the roadmap.

4. Material and composition (木で作る)

で marks the physical material out of which something is made when the material remains visually or structurally recognisable in the finished object.^{1 14 5 9} The standard pattern is [material-noun + で] + [作つくる / できる / 建たてる / 造つくる].^{1 9}

The standard contexts:^{1 5 9 11}

• Crafting or building: 木きで作つくる ("make of wood"), 紙かみで折おる ("fold from paper"), 石いしで建たてる ("build of stone").
• Made-of (resulting state): このテーブルは木きでできている ("this table is made of wood").
• Recipe (ingredients visible): 小麦粉こむぎこと砂糖さとうで作つくりました ("[I] made it with flour and sugar").

When the source material is chemically or structurally transformed and is no longer recognisable in the product, から replaces で.^{1 9 17} The diagnostic is whether you can point at the finished thing and say "that's the [material]." If yes, use で. If the material has been transformed beyond visual recognition, use から.¹

このテーブルは木きでできています。⁵
"This table is made of wood."

紙かみで鶴つるを折おりました。¹¹
"I folded a crane out of paper."

この家いえは石いしで建たてられた。⁹
"This house was built of stone."

小麦粉こむぎこと砂糖さとうだけで作つくりました。⁵
"I made it with only flour and sugar."

米こめから酒さけを作つくります。⁹
"Sake is made from rice." (から for transformative source, not で.)

Recognisable material vs transformed source

A two-line diagnostic separates the look-alike pair. ワインはぶどうから作つくる ("wine is made from grapes") uses から because the grapes have been fermented away and are no longer recognisable in the finished wine. テーブルは木きで作つくる ("a table is made of wood") uses で because the wood is still wood. Transformed source uses から; recognisable material uses で.^{9 17} Edge cases (cheese from milk, paper from wood) exist, but the clean test covers the N5 cases reliably.¹

5. Time-frame and total amount (3日で終わる, 千円で買える)

で marks the span within which an action completes or the total quantity at which a predicate holds.^{1 14 5 9 11} Both sub-uses fit the "frame within which the predicate is true" intuition. The frame is temporal in one case and enumerative in the other.⁴

Time-frame: the span by which the action completes

で names the limit of the span the action fits inside, not a moment within it. 三日みっかで終おわる means "[I will] finish within three days." Compare に, which pins a point on the clock or calendar: 三時さんじに終おわる ("finish at 3 o'clock"). As a rule of thumb, に answers "when?" with a clock or calendar point. で answers "in how long?" with a duration or deadline.^{1 5 15}

三日みっかで終おわります。⁹
"It will be finished in three days."

五分ごふんで戻もどります。⁵
"I will be back in five minutes."

三時さんじで仕事しごとを終おわります。⁵
"I'll finish work at 3 o'clock." (The 3 o'clock here is the closing edge of a span, not the moment the action begins.)

Total-quantity: the threshold at which the predicate holds

で names the total cost, quantity, or threshold at which the predicate holds. The frame is enumerative rather than temporal: how much, how many, how cheap, how aggregated.^{1 5 11}

千円せんえんで買かえます。¹¹
"It can be bought for a thousand yen."

全部ぜんぶで五人ごにん来きました。¹¹
"Five people came in total."

The unifying logic: で marks the condition, not the participant

Why all five senses are the same particle

All five uses of で mark a situational frame the predicate is evaluated against. They do not name an argument of the verb.^{1 4 5} The frame can be spatial (location), instrumental (means), causal (cause), substantive (material), or quantitative (span or total). In every case, the で-marked noun is the condition under which the predicate is true, not a participant the verb acts on.^{1 4}

The contrast with the other case particles is structural:^{1 18 16 3}

Particle	Role	What it marks	Example
を	Argument	The direct object the verb acts on	水みずを飲のむ ("drink water")
に	Anchor	A fixed endpoint or location of existence	学校がっこうにいる ("be at school")
で	Frame	The scene or condition the predicate holds under	学校がっこうで勉強べんきょうする ("study at school")

80/20 Japanese calls this the "required to perform the action" frame: で picks out what has to be in place for the predicate to hold.⁴ Tofugu's volleyball-court metaphor describes the same idea geometrically: で draws the boundary inside which the action plays out.⁵ Both framings are compatible, and both unify the five senses as a single intuition.^{5 4}

学校がっこうで勉強べんきょうする。⁷
"I study at school." (Frame: spatial.)

鉛筆えんぴつで書かく。⁸
"I write with a pencil." (Frame: instrumental.)

病気びょうきで休やすむ。⁹
"I rest because of illness." (Frame: causal.)

木きで作つくる。⁹
"I make [it] of wood." (Frame: substantive.)

三日みっかで終おわる。⁹
"It finishes in three days." (Frame: temporal span.)

Why this matters for N5 learners

Once you see で as "the conditions under which" the predicate holds, borderline cases stop feeling like exceptions.⁴ Three N5-frequent examples resolve cleanly under the frame intuition:

• Eating from a bowl (お椀わんで食たべる): is the bowl an instrument or a location? The frame answer is both, and that is why the same particle fits. The bowl is the condition that holds during the eating.¹¹
• Fighting with words (言葉ことばで戦たたかう): are words a tool or a medium? A medium that enables the action, marked with the same で.¹¹
• Dying of cancer (癌がんで死しぬ): is the cancer a cause or a state? A condition the death happens under; で is the right particle even though English would use "of."⁹

A flat-list account asks the learner to memorise five separate rules, then leaves borderline cases looking like exceptions.⁴ The frame account predicts the borderline cases: anything that names a condition the verb depends on takes で, whatever the specific sub-sense.^{4 1}

For teaching, this is the upgrade path from the floor mnemonic "に for being, で for doing." The mnemonic gets the most common case right (location). The frame intuition gets the long tail right.^{15 4}

お椀わんで食たべます。¹¹
"I eat from a bowl." (Container as condition of the eating.)

言葉ことばで説明せつめいする。¹¹
"I explain in words." (Medium as condition.)

癌がんで亡なくなりました。⁹
"He passed away from cancer." (Cause-state as condition.)

The に vs. で location contrast

The canonical minimal pair

The most useful location contrast for N5 learners is the に / で choice: 学校がっこうにいる ("be at school," existence) vs 学校がっこうで勉強べんきょうする ("study at school," action).^{1 13 5 15 11} The two sentences share the place noun and differ only in the particle and the verb. That contrast isolates the rule.

The semantic split is verb-driven:^{1 15}

• に marks the place where someone or something exists, stays, or is located. The verb is stative: ある, いる, 住すむ, 勤つとめる.^{1 13}
• で marks the place where an action happens. The verb is eventive: 勉強べんきょうする, 遊あそぶ, 食たべる, 働はたらく, 泳およぐ.^{1 5}

Tofugu's metaphor pair captures the difference: に is "a pushpin on a map" (a point you mark), while で is "the lines of a volleyball court" (the boundary inside which the play happens).^{5 15} Both are place markers. The difference is what they say about the verb's relation to the place.

学校がっこうにいます。¹⁵
"I am at school." (Existence; に.)

学校がっこうで勉強べんきょうします。¹³
"I study at school." (Action; で.)

机つくえの上うえに本ほんがあります。¹³
"There is a book on the desk." (Existence; に.)

図書館としょかんで本ほんを読よみます。¹¹
"I read books at the library." (Action; で.)

The one rule that handles the common case

For the bulk of N5 sentences, a single rule decides the particle:^{1 13 15 11}

• If the verb is ある, いる, 住すむ, 勤つとめる (or another stative-location verb), use に.
• If the verb is a dynamic event verb (study, play, eat, work, write, watch, meet, swim, dance), use で.

The rule is verb-driven, not noun-driven. The same place noun (学校がっこう, 公園こうえん, 図書館としょかん, 家いえ) can take either particle depending on the verb.^{1 15}

京都きょうとに住すんでいます。¹¹
"I live in Kyoto." (住む is stative; に.)

銀行ぎんこうに勤つとめています。¹
"I work at a bank." (勤める is stative-existence; に, even though English says "work.")

銀行ぎんこうで働はたらいています。¹¹
"I work at a bank." (働く is the dynamic action verb; で.)

公園こうえんで子供こどもたちが遊あそんでいます。¹¹
"Children are playing in the park."

勤める vs 働く: same English, different particle

The English verb "work" hides a Japanese split. 勤つとめる ("be employed at") is a stative-existence verb and takes に. 働はたらく ("do work, labour") is a dynamic event verb and takes で. Both can translate as "work at a bank," but only the Japanese verb decides the particle.^{1 11}

Pointer to the dedicated comparison

A full に / で comparison, including the borderline verbs (寝ねる, 座すわる, 立たつ) and the existence-of-event use (パーティーは渋谷である "the party is in Shibuya"), is covered in the dedicated に / で location article. The section above gives the minimum an N5 reader needs to read or speak correctly today: stative verbs take に, eventive verbs take で.^{1 15}

Good to know

で after a noun-predicate is the te-form of だ, not the case particle

A surface で that follows a noun or na-adjective in a clause-joining context is not the case particle. It is the te-form of the copula だ, used to chain the predicate to a following clause.^{2 10} The diagnostic is what the で-bearing chunk does. A frame-marker on a verb is the case particle. A chained predicate sitting before a comma or another clause is the te-form copula.²

A frequent learner error is to read 田中たなかさんは学生がくせいで、東京とうきょうに住すんでいます as "[at] student, Tanaka lives in Tokyo," with で parsed as the case particle. The correct parse treats で as the te-form copula: "Tanaka is a student and lives in Tokyo."

田中たなかさんは学生がくせいで、東京とうきょうに住すんでいます。²
"Mr. Tanaka is a student and lives in Tokyo."

で at the end of an inflected verb is the te-form ending, not the case particle

The で that ends a verb form like 死しんで, 読よんで, 飛とんで, 遊あそんで, 呼よんで is not the case particle. It is the te-form ending of a verb whose plain form ends in -ぬ, -ぶ, or -む. In these forms, て has voiced to で by the euphonic change called 音便おんびん (onbin).^{2 10}

The diagnostic is what で attaches to. The case particle attaches to a noun (学校がっこうで, 鉛筆えんぴつで, 病気びょうきで). The te-form ending is the last syllable of an inflected verb (死しんで, 読よんで, 遊あそんで).² If the で is the last syllable of an inflected verb, it is the te-form ending.

本ほんを読よんでいます。²
"I am reading a book." (で = te-form ending of 読む.)

The three-way で homophone diagnostic

The three uses of the kana で share a surface form, but they split cleanly by what comes before them. The diagnostic below resolves all three on the spot.

Three different morphemes, one surface kana.² The diagnostic question is always the same: what does the で attach to?

Vehicles take で for travel but に for boarding

For vehicles, で and に are both grammatical with different verbs, and the verb chooses which particle is correct.^{1 13 11} A common mistake is to hear "go by bus" and write ×バスに行いく, which would mean "go to the bus" if parsed at all.

The correct pair is バスで行いく ("go by bus," で is the means of travel) and バスに乗のる ("get on the bus," に is required because 乗のる lexically takes its target as a に-marked argument).

バスで行いきます。¹¹
"I go by bus." (で = means of travel.)

バスに乗のります。¹¹
"I get on the bus." (に = the verb 乗る selects に for its target.)

電車でんしゃで通勤つうきんして、駅えきで自転車じてんしゃに乗のります。¹¹
"I commute by train, and I get on my bicycle at the station." (All three particles, each chosen by its verb.)

The general principle is that the verb chooses, not the noun. The same noun (バス, 電車でんしゃ, 車くるま, 飛行機ひこうき) takes either particle depending on the verb it co-occurs with.¹ A useful gloss is to think of 乗のる as analogous to 入はいる ("enter," takes に) in selecting an arrival-target argument. Both are stative-arrival verbs even though the English "get on" sounds active.¹

Etymology: で comes from にて

The case particle で is historically reduced from the Classical Japanese compound にて (に + て, where て is the te-form of the copula).^{6 7} In Classical and Old Japanese, にて was the standard form for the senses now carried by modern で. The reduction にて > で took place by the Late Middle Japanese period and is fully established in the modern language.⁶

This historical relation explains why に and で share territory: they descend from a single locative construction that split into two case particles over time. に retained the "anchor point" function (locative, dative, allative). にて > で took the "frame for an event" function (location of action, means, cause, material, span).⁶

The compound にて survives in formal written Japanese, ceremonial speech, and business documents as the polite-formal alternative to で. 会議室かいぎしつにてお待まちください is the formal counterpart of 会議室かいぎしつでお待まちください.^{7 6} The etymology is not a memory aid layered on top of unrelated facts. It is the grammatical core those facts grew out of.

Mnemonic: "に for being, で for doing," then upgrade

The floor mnemonic for the に / で contrast is "に for being, で for doing."^{15 11} It gets the most common case right: stative existence with に, dynamic action with で. That is enough to let an N5 learner produce correct sentences in most beginner contexts.^{13 15}

Once the floor mnemonic is internalised, upgrade it to: "で marks the conditions under which the predicate happens."⁴ This covers the four other senses (means, cause, material, span) under a single gloss. It also predicts borderline cases (eating from a bowl, dying of cancer, finishing in three days) without requiring a separate rule for each sense.⁴

Two-stage mnemonics are a standard teaching pattern for multi-function particles: a memorable floor that gets common cases right, plus a one-step upgrade that scales to the long tail.^{15 4}

See also

• に vs. で for Location in Japanese: Existence vs. Action
• The に Particle: A Multi-Function Workhorse
• Japanese Particles (助詞): The Eight Categories Explained
• The を Particle: Direct Object
• The へ Particle: Direction Marker

References

Footnotes

1. Makino, Seiichi, and Michio Tsutsui. A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. The Japan Times, 1986. ISBN 978-4-7890-0454-1. Entries: "de¹" (location of action), "de²" (means / instrument), "de³" (cause / reason), "de⁴" (material), and "de⁵" (time-frame / total quantity). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³² ↩³³ ↩³⁴ ↩³⁵ ↩³⁶ ↩³⁷ ↩³⁸ ↩³⁹ ↩⁴⁰ ↩⁴¹ ↩⁴² ↩⁴³ ↩⁴⁴ ↩⁴⁵ ↩⁴⁶ ↩⁴⁷ ↩⁴⁸ ↩⁴⁹

2. 庵功雄 (Iori, Isao). 『新しい日本語学入門』(Atarashii Nihongogaku Nyūmon), 2nd ed. スリーエーネットワーク (3A Network), 2012. ISBN 978-4-88319-606-5. Chapters on 格助詞 (case particles); treatment of で as a multi-function case particle and the boundary with the te-form of the copula (元気で, 学生で) and the te-form of nu-stem verbs (死んで, 読んで). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

3. Wikipedia contributors. "Japanese particles." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_particles (limitation: encyclopedic reference; used only for the standard taxonomic label 格助詞 / kakujoshi and the case-particle inventory.) ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. 80/20 Japanese. "The Japanese particle 'de': When and how to use it correctly." https://8020japanese.com/particle-de/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the "required-to-perform-the-action" gloss unifying location, means, material, and time-frame senses, and for verified beginner example sentences.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

5. Tofugu. "Particle で: Where Actions Happen." https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/particle-de/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the volleyball-court / specification framing, the location / means / material / time-boundary examples, and the で vs に for location contrast.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴

6. Frellesvig, Bjarke. A History of the Japanese Language. Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN 978-0-521-65320-6. Treatment of Old and Classical Japanese case particles; the derivation of で from にて (に + て-form of the copula) and the parallel-development relation to に. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

7. Bunpro. "で (JLPT N5 Grammar Point)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%A7 (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for JLPT-level confirmation and verified beginner example forms, and for the にて → で derivation gloss.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

8. JLPTsensei. "JLPT N5 Grammar: で (de) particle meaning." https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/%E3%81%A7-de-particle-meaning/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for JLPT-level confirmation and verified N5 example sentences across the location, means, cause, and material uses.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

9. Wasabi. "How to Use the Japanese Particles De で." https://wasabi-jpn.com/magazine/japanese-grammar/how-to-use-the-japanese-particles-de/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the cause-of-illness example pattern (病気で休む), the material-vs-source (木で / 米から) contrast, and the time-frame examples.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴

10. Wikipedia contributors. "Japanese grammar." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_grammar (limitation: encyclopedic reference; used only for the standard case-particle inventory and the te-form / case-particle homophone note.) ↩ ↩² ↩³

11. Coto Japanese Academy. "Particle で: Place of Action and Method." https://cotoacademy.com/de-particle-japanese/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for verified beginner example sentences across location, means, cause, material, and time-frame uses.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³² ↩³³ ↩³⁴ ↩³⁵ ↩³⁶ ↩³⁷ ↩³⁸ ↩³⁹

12. 国際交流基金・日本国際教育支援協会 (Japan Foundation & Japan Educational Exchanges and Services). Japanese-Language Proficiency Test Official Practice Workbook N5 / 『日本語能力試験 公式問題集 N5』. 凡人社, 2012. ISBN 978-4-89358-840-1. Official JLPT N5 practice materials use で for location of action, means, and cause from the first reading passages. ↩ ↩²

13. Banno, Eri, Yoko Ikeda, Yutaka Ohno, Chikako Shinagawa, and Kyoko Tokashiki. Genki I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese, 3rd ed. The Japan Times, 2020. ISBN 978-4-7890-1730-5. Chapter 3 introduces で for location of action; chapter 4 introduces で for means / instrument; chapter 10 introduces で for cause / reason. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵

14. スリーエーネットワーク (3A Network). 『みんなの日本語 初級I 本冊』(Minna no Nihongo Shokyū I), 2nd ed. 3A Network, 2012. ISBN 978-4-88319-603-4. Lessons 5 through 13 introduce で for means, location of action, material, and cause; lesson 11 introduces で for time-frame and total quantity. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

15. Tofugu. "Particle に: For Pin Pointing Locations." https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/particle-ni/ (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the "pin on a map" framing of に and its contrast with で for location.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

16. Kuno, Susumu. The Structure of the Japanese Language. MIT Press, 1973. ISBN 978-0-262-11049-5. Chapters on the case particles; treatment of で as the marker of the scene of action vs に as the marker of the location of existence. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

17. Bunpro. "から (JLPT N5 Grammar Point)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89 (limitation: language-learning publisher; used for the で / から material contrast (composition vs source) and the から / ので / で contrast for cause.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

18. Shibatani, Masayoshi. The Languages of Japan. Cambridge University Press, 1990. ISBN 978-0-521-36918-3. Chapters on case-marking; treatment of で as the instrumental-locative case particle and its functional split from に. ↩