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Particle
| A particle (apparently derived from the て form of です) that indicates a weak causal relationship. | And; because of; due to; because |
| 【Related Expression: から3; ので】 |
(ks). 山口さんは病気で学校を休んだ・休みました。
Because Mr. Yamaguchi was ill, he didn't come to school.
(a). 明日は期末試験で大変です。
I'm having an awful time because of tomorrow's final exam.
(b). 大雨で橋が壊れた。
Heavy rain destroyed the bridge.
(c). 昨日は夜、仕事でとても疲れた。
Because of my work I got very tired last night.
(d). 父は交通事故で入院しました。
My father was hospitalised due to a traffic accident.
1. Some of the uses of で3 (such as Key Sentence and Example (a)) are very close to the て form of です. For example, Key Sentence can be paraphrased into two sentences (1a) and (1b):
And Key Sentence can be considered to be the result of combining the two sentences using the て form of です which basically means 'be ~and'.
2. A noun that precedes で3 expresses something that is beyond human control (such as illness, flood, accident, rain, and fire). It is also to be noted that で3 co-occurs with any noun, if a predicate expresses something that is beyond human control. If the co-occurring predicate expresses something that is controllable, the particle で is no longer で3; it is で2 of means. (⇨ で2) Compare (2a) and (2b) below:
(2a) and (2b) contain a noncontrollable predicate アレルギーになる 'become allergic' and a controllable predicate オムレツを作る 'make an omelette', respectively. Therefore, で in (2a) and (2b) are で3 and で2, respectively.
【Related Expression】
The particle で3 is a very loose marker of cause due to its origin; in contrast, から3 and ので are clear subordinate conjunctions of cause/reason.