Tuesday, August 28, 2018

particle に - Function of に in this passive construction


I understand the basics of the "suffering passive". For example, it's my understanding that in a sentence like 友達にビールを飲まれた, "tomodachi ni" marks the person who drank your beer.



ぼくにもんくいわれても困る



Who does ぼく refer to and what is the role of ぼくに in this sentence?


bokunimonkuiwaretemokomaru




Answer



You're right that the sentence is Suffering Passive (迷惑の受身), a kind of Indirect Passive (間接受身).


Here in [僕]{ぼく}[文句]{もんく}言われても[困]{こま}る, 僕に doesn't mark the person who does 文句言う, but the indirect object of 言う.



文句(を)言う = (you) complain to me.



It's saying "I will 困る if you 文句を言う to me."


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