に (3)

Particle (Basic ㊦ 292)

A particle that indicates an agent or a source in passive, causative, もらう/てまらう and other receiving constructions.

Equivalent: By; from

一男は友達に手紙を読まれた・読まれました。
Kazuo's friend read Kazuo's letter (and Kazuo was unhappy).
秋子は浩にご飯を作らせた・作らせました。
Akiko made Hiroshi fix a meal.
私は父に車を買ってもらった・もらいました。
My father bought me a car.
ジェーンは山野先生に生け花を習った・習いました。
Jane took lessons in flower arranging from Mrs. Yamano.
その子はお母さんに叱られました。
The child was scolded by its mother.
A:そのネクタイは誰にもらったんですか。  B:父にもらいました。
A: From whom did you receive that tie?  B: I received it from my father.
僕はアメリカ人に英語を教えてもらった。
I had an American teach me English.
兄は私に五時間も運転させました。
My older brother made me drive for as long as five hours.
A:吉田さんが結婚したそうですよ。  B:そうですか。誰に聞きましたか。
A: I heard that Mr. Yoshida got married.  B: Is that right? Who told you so?

Notes

1. に3 is typically used in passive, causative, もらう/てもらう constructions and with verbs such as 借りる 'borrow', 聞く 'hear', もらう 'receive', 習う 'learn', 教わる 'learn' which require a noun phrase representing the source of the direct object.

(⇨ られる; させる; もらう1; もらう2)

2. Nouns that take に3 as in Key Sentences (A), (B) and (C) all represent agents of the main verb's action. Thus, Key Sentences (A), (B) and (C) include (1), (2) and (3), respectively as part of their meaning.

3. に3 of source as in Key Sentence (D), Examples (b) and (e) can be replaced by から1, but に3 of agent, as in Key Sentences (A), (B), (C), Examples (a), (c) and (d), cannot.

【Related Expression】

The difference between に3 (of source) and から1 is that the former indicates the speaker's psychological closeness to a human source, whereas the latter doesn't. This difference explains why is ungrammatical if the source is an impersonal institution to which the speaker can hardly feel close, as shown in [1].

[1]