ことにExtremely, Especially, To my ...

ことに only carries this meaning with words that describe 'feelings'

Structure

Verb + ことに
［い］Adjective + ことに
［な］Adjective + な + ことに

Details

Standard

About ことに

English

Japanese

When 事(こと) 'thing' is combined with the case-marking particle に following a statement, it highlights that something is of a 'great extent'. Common translations include 'particularly', 'especially', or 'to my (A)'. This grammar pattern almost always describes some kind of feeling or emotion.

ことに is regularly seen after verbs, い or な-Adjectives.

In most situations, '(A) ことに (B)' can be translated quite literally as 'to a particularly (A) extent, (B)'.

Fun Fact

A very common expression 幸(さいわ)いなことに uses this particular grammar structure as a set phrase, and is often translated simply as 'fortunately', or 'luckily'.

Fun Fact

ことに may sometimes be seen before descriptions rather than following them. In these cases, it comes from the kanji 殊(こと), and is being used adverbially in the same way as 特(とく)に to mean 'particularly' or 'especially'.

Antonyms

Examples

--:--

幸(しあわ)せな事(こと)に、来年(らいねん)結婚(けっこん)します。
I am extremely happy about getting married next year.
不思議(ふしぎ)な事(こと)に、最近(さいきん)物事(ものごと)がすべてうまくいく。
By some extreme oddity, lately everything seems to be going well.
嬉(うれ)しい事(こと)に、みんなが協力(きょうりょく)してくれるようになりました。
I am extremely happy that everyone started to cooperate with me.
嬉(うれ)しい事(こと)に日本語(にほんご)能力(のうりょく)試験(しけん)に合格(ごうかく)しました。
I am especially happy about passing the JLPT.
驚(おどろ)いた事(こと)に、六(ろっ)ヶ月(かげつ)で赤(あか)ちゃんが初(はじ)めて歩(ある)いた。
To our extreme surprise, the six month old baby took its first steps.
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ことに – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (7 in total)

whatyouexpect
Hi, the Bunpro entry suggests that this ことに comes from the adverb 殊, but I cannot find any other sources that support that claim. It seems to just be regular こと. Also in the 幸いなことに entry it does say that this is the こと that means “thing”.
stephane
A bit confused about this lesson

Isn’t the “extremely” translation overexagerated ?
All my other sources refer to an emphasis of the emotion/feeling but I have yet to find an example mentioning an extreme quality in their translation outside of the case of a strong adjective which adds the emphasis by itself

for example in English if I said “as I was devastated” “as” has no role in the extreme emotion, I get the feeling ことに kind of works the same ? or am I mistaken ?
sksk
The English translation as “extremely, especially” for 事に seems to be a mistake.

if it’s 殊に or 異に then yes it has that meaning but the way it’s used is very different compared to how 事に is used.