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This phrase "te wo furu hito ni egao de kotae" is translated as "Smiling back
to the people who waves their hands"

"te wo furu hito ni" I suppose it's "to the people who waves their hands" ,
kotae is "to respond" and "egao" is "smile". Then why it's "egao de kotae" and
not "egao o kotae" . With "egao de kotae" isnt it trying to say "respond a
smile" or the literal translation would be another? Does this verb simply work
with "de" instead of "o" or is there any other explanation and I'm getting it
all wrong?
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2017-06-28T21:30:22.777
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2017-06-29T01:22:04.003
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question
translation particle-を
Why does this phrase use "de" and not "o" "te wo furu hito ni egao de kotae"?
笑顔{えがお} is not the object of 答える, instead it's showing the manner in which the
answer was given, "with a smile", hence the use of the particle で. I don't
believe that 答える is a transitive verb in Japanese. You can use it with either
に or と such as

> はいと答えた。 She answered "yes".

or

> 質問に答えた。 She answered the questions.

But I don't believe it's grammatically correct or natural to say

> ** 質問を答えた。
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2017-06-28T22:08:45.027
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2017-06-28T22:13:51.160
2017-06-28T22:13:51.160
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English is off-topic, but I can't comment yet, so I'll note by answer that the
preferred English would be "responding **with** a smile".

So the English and Japanese are somewhat corollary here.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-06-29T01:22:04.003
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2017-06-29T01:22:04.003
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answer