How to use the verb こもる


> 感謝の気持ちは品物の量じゃない。 気持ちなんだから、気持ちがこもっていればいい。  
>  A feeling of gratitude isn't about the amount of stuff. Because it's a
> feeling it should be filled with feeling.

Obviously my translation of the second sentence is meaningless. How should I
translate 気持ち here?

Also I don't understand how こもる works. Apparently it means 'to be filled with'
so I would expect 気持ちがこもる to mean 'feeling is filled with ...' rather than
'filled with feeling'. Why is が used rather than で to denote what something is
filled with?

For example, in answer to the question "Who is filled with happiness?" how
would I say "Tanaka is filled with happiness". I would have said 田中さんが幸せでこもる,
but I'm guessing that's completely wrong.




For the verb こもる, the thing that is doing the 'filling' is usually followed by
a が, like in the example you gave. That is just how this verb operates. You
can see more examples
[here](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/je/27239/meaning/m0u/%E3%81%93%E3%82%82%E3%82%8B/)
if you like.

If you want to talk about someone actively doing the "filling", you can use
the verb こめる (込める), where the thing to be "filled" is followed by を:

> 僕は気持ちを込めて歌を作曲したいです。
>
> Natural translation: I want to make songs with feeling.
>
> Literal translation: I want to make songs and put feeling into them.

About your question regarding "Tanaka is filled with happiness", I think your
Japanese translation isn't natural because of how こもる is used, and think the
following would be a bit more natural:

> 田中さんは幸せでいっぱいです。

EDIT: Here is a translation of the Japanese text given in the original post.
While the grammar is somewhat straightforward (given my above explanation),
it's a little tricky to translate.

I ended up with a somewhat non-literal translation, but I think this is a good
way to express the meaning of the original Japanese.

> 感謝の気持ちは品物の量じゃない。 気持ちなんだから、気持ちがこもっていればいい。
>
> Expressing gratitude isn't about the amount of things you give. Since it's
> about feelings, the important thing is that the giver has put feeling into
> buying the gift.

I could have also used something like "It's the thought that counts".




For the verb こもる, the thing that is doing the 'filling' is usually followed by
a が, like in the example you gave. That is just how this verb operates. You
can see more examples
[here](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/je/27239/meaning/m0u/%E3%81%93%E3%82%82%E3%82%8B/)
if you like.

If you want to talk about someone actively doing the "filling", you can use
the verb こめる (込める), where the thing to be "filled" is followed by を:

> 僕は気持ちを込めて歌を作曲したいです。
>
> Natural translation: I want to make songs with feeling.
>
> Literal translation: I want to make songs and put feeling into them.

About your question regarding "Tanaka is filled with happiness", I think your
Japanese translation isn't natural because of how こもる is used, and think the
following would be a bit more natural:

> 田中さんは幸せでいっぱいです。

EDIT: Here is a translation of the Japanese text given in the original post.
While the grammar is somewhat straightforward (given my above explanation),
it's a little tricky to translate.

I ended up with a somewhat non-literal translation, but I think this is a good
way to express the meaning of the original Japanese.

> 感謝の気持ちは品物の量じゃない。 気持ちなんだから、気持ちがこもっていればいい。
>
> Expressing gratitude isn't about the amount of things you give. Since it's
> about feelings, the important thing is that the giver has put feeling into
> buying the gift.

I could have also used something like "It's the thought that counts".

