質問: For example this one: It appeared in this sentence: > > 「両親{りょうしん}が生{い}きていたら、孫{まご}の誕生{たんじょう}をとても喜{よろこ}んだだろう。」 > > > "If my parents had still lived, I think they would have been very pleased by the birth of their grandchild." Are these verbs suitable for both transitive and intransitive use? And do they "prefer" certain particles, or is that mostly determined by context? In this particular case, I'm a bit confused by the use of を since it is in most cases reserved for the direct object, and at least in my attempt at translation, this isn't reflected at all...^^
回答: Yes, 喜ぶ has both transitive and intransitive usages. The following sentences are both grammatical and mean the same thing. > > * 彼は孫の誕生**に**喜んだ。 > * 彼は孫の誕生**を**喜んだ。 > > > Here, に is the case particle which can denote a reason/cause (e.g., ~に戸惑う, ~に驚く, ~に悲しむ). I feel the transitive usage (~を喜ぶ) is more common, but ~に戸惑う is not uncommon at all. Here the first five examples of ~に喜ぶ I found on BCCWJ. These are safely interchangeable with ~を喜ぶ. > > * 実験の成功**に**喜ぶ圭介の腕に思いがけず抱きしめられ... > * 水の出た井戸**に**喜ぶ、アフガンの子どもたち > * 市内に転入した方へあさか舞をプレゼントし、新米のプレゼント**に**喜ぶ姿が見られました。 (あさか舞 is a brand name of rice) > * スケートに誘われ、久しぶりのデート**に**喜ぶ...のも束の間、... > * 写真は開催地決定の報**に**喜ぶ北京の学生たち。 > > >