Using こと in Japanese – どういうこと？

Is こと confusing for you? 

If so, you aren't alone. こと isn't a concrete, easy-to-understand word. But by learning the following two usages, we should be able to clear up some of the confusion.

Using こと

As mentioned previously, こと has two main usages. After explaining those with examples, we'll look at a few idiomatic phrases which use こと.

1) こと as an intangible thing

In this case, こと and もの (thing) are similar. もの deals with concrete things and こと deals with intangible things.

Examples

Again, this is intangible. However, if you wanted to receive something interesting, you could use もの:

おいしい　ものを　たべたい。 

I'd like to eat something delicious (a physical thing).

２) こと as a nominalizer

A nominalizer simply means こと (as well as の) can change the preceding verb or phrase into a noun phrase. This allows you to use a verb/phrase as if it were a noun. The image at the top of this page is of this sort.

Examples

「漢字を読む」 is a complete sentence in itself. But you can't directly say doing that is "difficult." If you change it into a noun phrase, however, you can.

Idiomatic Usages of こと

Here are a few expressions that would be good to memorize.

ことがある - have done

This is used to show someone has experience doing something.

Format:

• Make the verb into the past form
• Add ことがある・あります

ことができる - can; able to do (something)

This is used to show something is possible.

Format:

• Plain verb form
• Add ことができる・できます