Koto ve Mono

rena-patra

rena-patra

Hi all, 質問があるけど。 What is the difference between こと andもの ? They both work to nominalize a verb. お前は幸せもどだ。 お前は幸せことだ。 Please help!
2679

2679

They both mean "thing" or refer to something, but there is a slight difference between them. In your examples, only the first one is correct: Omae wa shiawase (na) mono da. While both mean "thing", mono (物) refers to physical things, while koto (事) refers to psychical/theoretical things (not material ones). example: *Sono mono wa nan desu ka ? - Shorui desu. -> What's that thing ? - It's a document.(mono refers to the document, hence a physical thing) *Nan no koto hanashiteru-n desu ka ? -> What are you talking about (here, koto refers to the subject of the discussion) Hope this helps :D
rena-patra

rena-patra

OK, thanks for the explanation. But, how about this one. あの日 ホントに失ったものって何だったっけ。
2679

2679

It's the same here too. What really is the thing that I lost that day ? -> it refers to a tangible thing. If we were to say koto instead of mono, then the sentence would be about an intangible things, such as a memory for example. However, in very familiar and informal language, "mono" may be used here to mean the same thing as koto. But these are exceptional cases and not really that often used. Sorry for my late responses, I'm a bit busy with exams right now and I don't enter the forums that much.
rena-patra

rena-patra

It's clear now! OK thanks for the clarifications コッド。

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