を (3)

Particle (Basic ㊦ 351)

A particle that marks the location from which some movement begins.

私は朝七時半に家を出る・出ます。: I leave home at 7.30 in the morning.
汽車がトンネルを出た。: A train came out of the tunnel.
バスを降りた時友達に会った。: I met a friend when I got off the bus.
日本を離れて外国で暮らしている。: He left Japan and is living abroad.

Notes

【Related Expression】

The particle を3 in Examples (a), (b), (c) can be replaced by から1 'from'. The basic difference between を3 and から1 is that を3 marks the location from which some movement begins and から1 marks the initial location in movement from one location to another. Thus, when focusing on both the new and old location of something or someone, から should be used instead of を. Consider the following examples.

(⇨ から1)

[1]

a. 私は今朝八時頃家を/*から出た。
This morning I left my house at about eight.

b.きのうはうちから/*を外に出なかった。
Yesterday I didn't go outside.

[1a] focuses on a point of detachment, so を is acceptable but から isn't. [1b], however, focuses on a starting point, so から is acceptable but を isn't.