で contradiction


Best explained with an example:

> リンゴでアップルパイを作りたい

The above sentence can either mean "I want to make apple pie with apples" or
it can mean "That apple makes me want to make apple pie". How do I know which
one is being implied? I don't think it can be judged by context really. I do
realize that a better way to say "make" would be のせいで rather than で, ie:
リンゴのせいでアップルパイを作りたい, but で feels ok too




I believe everyone will read the sentence in question only as "I want to make
an apple pie with apples". To say the other, you have to say
リンゴを見てアップルパイが作りたくなった or something like this. Japanese particles (as well as
English prepositions) each have many meanings, and the context is often the
only clue. You have to get used to them by examples. (For example, one of the
meanings of "by" in English is "alongside/near", but "go to school by bus"
never means going to school by running after a bus.)




I believe everyone will read the sentence in question only as "I want to make
an apple pie with apples". To say the other, you have to say
リンゴを見てアップルパイが作りたくなった or something like this. Japanese particles (as well as
English prepositions) each have many meanings, and the context is often the
only clue. You have to get used to them by examples. (For example, one of the
meanings of "by" in English is "alongside/near", but "go to school by bus"
never means going to school by running after a bus.)

