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Confused about particles wo and ni? 2007/10/29 14:54
Hi everyone~

I'm just a little confused about when to use を or に. I don't understand this sentence:

移り行く瞬間をその瞳に住んでいたい。

Why is を not に after 瞬間?

Thanks in advance!

by Aki  

... 2007/10/29 18:12
移り行く瞬間を その瞳に住んでいたい。

It's the difference between:
- I want to be doing (something) at that moment,
and
- I want to spend that momend doing (something).

It's somewhat poetic (it's probably a line from song lyrics, right?) so it's not really about science of grammar but where the emphasis is, but let me give it a try.

If you say, with "ni,": 移り行く瞬間に その瞳に住んでいたい it is like "I want to be/be living in your eyes at that passing moment(s)." It is talking about what you want to be doing "at that moment" (very momentary, temporary, and also it sounds very matter-of-factly).

With the original phrase the emphasis is on how you want to spend that MOMENT (or those moments), now the *object* of the sentence is the moment/moments, (which is precious to the writer) so the matter-of-factliness and the sense of "instantaneous-ness" is not there. So it is like "I want to be spending that passing moment(s) right there in your eyes."

Hope this helps.
by AK rate this post as useful

分かった^^ 2007/10/30 15:32
Thanks, that helped a lot. BTW, you're right, it's from L'Arc~en~Ciel's 瞳の住人









by Aki rate this post as useful

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