Grammar Info

N3 Lesson 6: 20/24

ことにExtremely, Especially, To my ...

ことに only carries this meaning with words that describe 'feelings'

Structure

Verb + ことに
［い］Adjective + ことに
［な］Adjective + な + ことに

Details

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About ことに

When 事(こと) 'thing' is combined with the case-marking particle に following a statement, it highlights that something is of a 'great extent'. Common translations include 'particularly', 'especially', or 'to my (A)'. This grammar pattern almost always describes some kind of feeling or emotion.

ことに is regularly seen after verbs, い or な-Adjectives.

In most situations, '(A) ことに (B)' can be translated quite literally as 'to a particularly (A) extent, (B)'.

Fun Fact

A very common expression 幸(さいわ)いなことに uses this particular grammar structure as a set phrase, and is often translated simply as 'fortunately', or 'luckily'.

  • 幸(さいわ)いなことに、近所(きんじょ)の人(ひと)が私(わたし)の猫(ねこ)を見(み)つけて家(いえ)まで届(とど)けてくれた。
    Fortunately, my neighbor found our cat for us, and brought her home.

Fun Fact

ことに may sometimes be seen before descriptions rather than following them. In these cases, it comes from the kanji 殊(こと), and is being used adverbially in the same was as 特(とく)に to mean 'particularly' or 'especially'.

Examples

--:--

    幸(しあわ)せな事(こと)に、来年(らいねん)結婚(けっこん)します。

    I am extremely happy about getting married next year.

    不思議(ふしぎ)な事(こと)に、最近(さいきん)物事(ものごと)がすべてうまくいく。

    By some extreme oddity, lately everything seems to be going well.

    嬉(うれ)しい事(こと)に、みんなが協力(きょうりょく)してくれるようになりました。

    I am extremely happy that everyone started to cooperate with me.

    嬉(うれ)しい事(こと)に日本語(にほんご)能力(のうりょく)試験(しけん)に合格(ごうかく)しました。

    I am especially happy about passing the JLPT.

    驚(おどろ)いた事(こと)に、六(ろっ)ヶ月(かげつ)で赤(あか)ちゃんが初(はじ)めて歩(ある)いた。

    To our extreme surprise, the six month old baby took its first steps.

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ことに – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (6 in total)

  • Ferpalaciosd

    Ferpalaciosd

    Quick question – I’m under the impression that inverting the sentence order for some of these would come off more natural.

    Example:
    嬉しい殊に、みんなが協力してくれるようになりました.
    vs.
    みんなが協力してくれるようになりましたので、嬉しい殊に.

    Maybe it would need a bit more tooling for it to be grammatically sound, but that’s just my two cents.

  • whatyouexpect

    whatyouexpect

    Hi, the Bunpro entry suggests that this ことに comes from the adverb 殊, but I cannot find any other sources that support that claim. It seems to just be regular こと. Also in the 幸いなことに entry it does say that this is the こと that means “thing”.

  • stephane

    stephane

    A bit confused about this lesson

    Isn’t the “extremely” translation overexagerated ?
    All my other sources refer to an emphasis of the emotion/feeling but I have yet to find an example mentioning an extreme quality in their translation outside of the case of a strong adjective which adds the emphasis by itself

    for example in English if I said “as I was devastated” “as” has no role in the extreme emotion, I get the feeling ことに kind of works the same ? or am I mistaken ?

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