What is the difference between

> バス **で** スマホを忘れてしまいました

and

> バス **に** スマホを忘れてしまいました?

I vaguely remember there being a nuance difference between these two sentences
but I forgot what it was... Please help me
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-13T18:40:37.470
56631
2018-02-17T06:17:38.207
2018-02-13T22:27:04.520
27713
question
word-choice particle-に particle-で
Difference between バスに and バスでスマホを忘れてしまいました
Simple answer since this seems to be a possible duplicate...

バスで忘れた focuses on where you did the forgetting (action).

バスに忘れた focuses on where the item was forgotten (location).

'On the bus, I forgot my phone.' vs. 'I forgot (lost) my phone inside the
bus.'.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-13T21:33:11.850
56633
2018-02-13T21:33:11.850
27280
56631
answer
While I think the distinction between `で` and `に` in the general sense has
been addressed in other questions, I don't think there's any harm in
explaining how it works for `忘れる` specifically.

> バス **で** スマホを忘れてしまいました

"I forgot my phone on the bus". The `で` here is emphasizing that the action of
forgetting your phone happened on the bus.

> バス **に** スマホを忘れてしまいました

"I left my phone in the bus". The `に` here is emphasizing that the bus is the
place where the action - forgetting your phone - was directed. You forgot
something into the bus, if you will, and consequently that's presumably where
it still is (unless someone moved it).

To really drive this home, let's look at one more sentence:

> バスで席の下にスマホを忘れてしまいました

"I left my phone under my seat on the bus". This sentence is talking about
performing the action of leaving your phone under your seat, and that action
was performed on the bus. This might be an unnatural level of specificity, but
hopefully it drives home the difference between particles.

Anecdotally, I see `忘れる` used primarily with `で`.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-17T06:17:38.207
56696
2018-02-17T06:17:38.207
7705
56631
answer