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Maybe this is a stupid question, because very likely it is possible for
advanced learners to distuiguish this. However, in the present tense ...でする
(particle で) and ...です (copula) are distinct, while in the past tense they
sound the same.

My current way to cope with this problem is to search in e.g. Google for
expressions using the present tense, i.e. either です or で+する and compairing the
number of found pages.

```

    Example phrase: 思い出でした
    
```

Google hits for

```

    思い出でする: 22
    思い出です: 2.7 million
    
```

Clearly, copula wins over the other "possibility". This is rather awkward.
Especially if there are terms that are less frequently used so Google returns
either way few pages. Is there an easier way I am not seeing?

Thanks!
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parsing particle-で tense copula
Past tense ...でする vs. past tense copula です　confusion
思い出でする looks like a typo to me. The first four hits on Google are echoes of
the same single posting, such as [here](https://www.musicman-
net.com/artist/18804). The verb phrase _omoide suru_ (to have a memory about
something) is spelled in kanji/kana as 思【おも】い出【で】する. The phrase 思い出でする would
have to be read as _omoide de suru_ , which is grammatically broken. There are
cases where 思い出でする could be read as _omoide_ (noun, "memory, recollection")
_de_ (particle, often instrumental, "with, by means of") _suru_ (verb, "do"),
as part of a larger phrase, but this seems unlikely and the semantics
(meaning) doesn't work very well.

Meanwhile, 思い出です would be read as _omoide desu_. This is grammatically
correct, and works out to: "[something] is a memory." I'm showing [2.94
million hits for
this](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E6%80%9D%E3%81%84%E5%87%BA%E3%81%A7%E3%81%99%22),
though, not 22, compared to [just 26 hits for
思い出でする](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22%E6%80%9D%E3%81%84%E5%87%BA%E3%81%A7%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B%22).
This is nearly backwards from what you found -- I'm not sure how you're
getting your hit numbers?

Looking back at your original phrase, 思い出でした would be read as _omoide deshita_
, and it would mean "[something] was a memory". On its own, there is no
confusion between past-tense copula でした ( _deshita_ ) and partcle + past-tense
"do" でした ( _de shita_ ), simply because the latter doesn't make sense.
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answer
思い出でする means "to do something as(because of) a memory", this で is a
postpositional particle that is used for "cause", "reason". For example,
彼女と初デートの場所でキスを思い出でしたい.

思い出です means "Something is a memory", です is a copula.

思い出でした can mean the both meanings. For example, 彼女と初デートの場所で、キスを思い出でした(I kissed
my girl friend at the our first date place as a memory),
彼女とのファーストキスは、良い思い出でした(My first kiss with my girl friend was a good memory).
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answer