This is an excerpt from my dialogue with my language partner. For some
context, I basically asked her about the difference in について and は, since both
can be translated to "Concerning X".

The sentence in question: 「ついて」の使い方ですが、後ろに名詞が来るか、動詞が来るかで少し違います。

My attempt at translation: "About the usage of 「ついて」, it varies a bit based on
wether a noun or a verb comes at the rear."

Here, I basically interpreted で as a marker for a "means" or better a "cause",
like in 事故 で 電車が止まりました。 However, I also learned in my textbook that to express
something like "depending on X, it is A or B", a construction with によって is
used, like this: 好きな食べ物は人によって違います。

That's why I wanted to ask wether my interpretation of で in the sentence above
is legit or not.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-24T13:04:55.127
55386
2017-12-24T14:17:44.483
20172
question
grammar particle-で
How to interprete this で?
Your explanation is perfect in every sense.

Yes, this 「で」 has the same meaning as 「によって」. So you can rephrase the original
sentence as 「後ろに名詞が来るか、動詞が来るか **によって** 少し違います」.

This meaning of 「で」 can formally be expressed as "cause", though I feel like
「で」 has sometimes a meaning like "depending on", for example in 「この店の売り物は曜日
**で** 変わる」.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-24T14:17:44.483
55387
2017-12-24T14:17:44.483
17890
55386
answer