について vs に対して (and として, によって): N3 Grammar Side by Side
All four start with a particle and all four get translated as “about”, “toward”, “as” or “by” depending on the textbook, so N3 students mix them up. Each one answers a different question, and once you ask the right question the choice is usually obvious.
The Four in One Table
| Form | What it marks | Ask yourself |
|---|---|---|
| について | The topic: what you talk, think, write or ask about | About what? |
| に対して | The target: who or what an action or feeling is aimed at. Also contrast | Toward whom? |
| として | The role: in what capacity or position | As what? |
| によって | Means, cause, “depends on”, and the creator in a passive sentence | By what? Because of what? |
All four attach directly to a noun: N + について, N + に対して, N + として, N + によって.
について vs に対して
Of the four, this is the pair to sort out first. について marks the content: the thing a conversation, a book, a question or a thought is about. に対して marks the target: the person or thing that an action or a feeling is pointed at. Verbs of speaking and thinking go with について; verbs like 反抗する, 反対する, 責任を持つ and feelings like 不満 or 不信感 go with に対して.
環境問題に対してレポートを書いた。
○環境問題についてレポートを書いた。
A report has a topic. Nothing is being aimed at the environment.
子どもが親について反抗する。
○子どもが親に対して反抗する。
Rebelling is directed at someone. The parents are the target of the rebellion.
Sometimes both are grammatical and the meaning changes:
彼の意見について話し合った。
We discussed his opinion. (His opinion was the topic.)
彼の意見に対して反対した。
I opposed his opinion. (My opposition was aimed at it.)
に対して for contrast
に対して has a second job that について never does: setting two things against each other. After a verb or adjective you need の: 兄は活発なのに対して、弟はおとなしい。 My older brother is lively, while my younger brother is quiet.
として: “In the Role Of”
として gives someone or something a role, a position or a label: 留学生として日本に来た (I came to Japan as an international student), 東京タワーは観光地として有名だ (Tokyo Tower is famous as a sightseeing spot).
It rarely gets confused with the other three on meaning. When you see a job, a status or a label in front of it, as in 通訳として働いている (I work as an interpreter), として is the only one of the four that fits.
Watch out for としても: it can be “also as” (女優としても活躍する) or a separate N3 pattern meaning “even if”, as in 失敗したとしても. The second one comes after a verb, and that is how you tell them apart.
によって Has Four Jobs
1. Means: by doing this
その問題は話し合いによって解決できると思う。 I think that problem can be solved by talking it through.
2. Cause: because of this
台風によって電車が止まった。 The trains stopped because of the typhoon. In speech you would usually say 台風で; によって (and its shorter form により) sounds like a news report.
3. “It depends on”
物価は国によって違う。 Prices differ from country to country. The verb after it is almost always 違う, 異なる or 変わる. The related によっては means “in some cases”: 人によっては, for some people.
4. The creator in a passive sentence
この小説は夏目漱石によって書かれた。 This novel was written by Natsume Soseki.
In most passive sentences the doer takes に. によって is for verbs that create something: 書く, 作る, 建てる, 発明する, 発見する, 設計する. So:
母によって褒められた。
○母に褒められた。
How They Show Up on the N3 Paper
Expect them in the first grammar question type, where you choose the form that fits the sentence, and in the sentence-ordering questions, where recognising N + について as one block saves time. They also run through the reading passages, especially によって in the formal “cause” sense.
Quick check. I wrote this one in the JLPT format; it is not a past question.
子どもは親（ ）反抗したくなる時期がある。
1. について 2. に対して 3. として 4. によって
Answer: 2. 反抗する is aimed at someone, so the parents are its target. 1 would make the parents a topic of conversation, and nothing in the sentence is being talked about.
The Closest Word in Vietnamese, Indonesian and Mongolian
| Tiếng Việt | Bahasa Indonesia | Монгол хэл | |
|---|---|---|---|
| について | về | tentang, mengenai | тухай |
| に対して | đối với | terhadap | no single word |
| として | với tư cách là | sebagai | -аар (багшаар ажилладаг) |
| によって | bởi, tùy theo | oleh, karena, tergantung pada | -аас хамаарна (depends on) |
Two things the table hides. Vietnamese do or vì for a cause is usually で in spoken Japanese, and によって only in writing. Mongolian -аар covers both the tool (で) and the role (として), so check which one you mean before translating.
More Questions About These Four
What is the difference between について and に関して?
They mean the same thing: the topic. に関して is more formal and appears in notices, reports and news. In conversation and in most JLPT N3 sentences, について is the natural choice.
How do I use these before a noun?
Change the ending. について becomes についての (日本の歴史についての本), に対して becomes に対する (政治に対する不満), として becomes としての (教師としての経験), and によって becomes による (台風による被害).
Is によって the same as で?
Often, but not always. For cause and means, で is the everyday form (台風で電車が止まった) and によって is more formal and written. For “it depends on” and for the creator in a passive sentence, you need によって.
Practise the N3 grammar that looks alike
Nihongo Pass mixes similar patterns into the same session, so you learn to choose between them instead of recognising each one on its own.