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

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'.

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 way as 特(とく)に to mean 'particularly' or 'especially'.

Antonyms

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)

mrnoone

English translation:
extremely
especially
to my …

Structure:
Verb + ことに
いAdj + ことに
なAdj + な + ことに

ことに only carries this meaning with words that describe ‘feelings’

Explanation:
[AことにB, A expresses emotion caused by B. It is used to emphasize the emotion.]

View on Bunpro
ljoekelsoey
Hey @mrnoone, I’d like to ask a question generally about the English translations for this grammar point as I keep getting misled by them. Taking the following example;

嬉しい ことに 日本語能力試験を合格しました
I am especially happy that I passed the JLPT.

As the ことに turns the preceding adjective, noun or たverb into an adverb, I wondered if the EN translation should perhaps mirror this a little more? So for the above example, rather than “I am especially happy”, something along the lines of “Happily, I passed…” or “I happily passed…”

Wondering on your thoughts on this. Thanks a million
Johnathan-Weir
A number of sources, such as the stack exchange link or a video by 日本語の森, suggest that this grammar is somewhat stiff. Perhaps the 硬 symbol should be added?
Daru
We usually reserve 硬 for strictly academic/written only/extremely formal Grammar Points, while this Grammar Point is a bit stiff it’s certainly not to the degree of a 硬 Grammar Point.

For example, just from the fact that there’s the very common expression 幸（）いなことに is enough to NOT validate it as a 硬 Grammar Point.

Hope this helps!
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
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
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 ?