Do these sentences mean the same thing?


In Fate/Zero King Arthur turns out to be a a young girl who pretended to be a
man to be able to become king. In the novel, after the main character uses the
scabbard of Excalibur to summon her, she says:

> 私があの鞘の持ち主であることを疑われたのは、正直なところ不愉快でした

Referring to the fact that the main character doubted that she was really King
Arthur when he first saw her.

In the manga adaptation, her line is slightly different:

> 私があの鞘の持ち主 **だと** 疑われたのは、正直不愉快でした

Doesn't the と particle make this sentence have the opposite meaning? Like she
is unhappy with being thought of as the owner of the scabbard?




Your understanding is correct.

The question is about whether 〜 **を** 疑う and 〜 **と** 疑う mean the same thing,
and the answer is they don’t.

The first sentence from the novel matches the first pattern, and this 疑う means
“to doubt”. In this particular sentence, the whole of 私があの鞘の持ち主であること is the
direct object of 疑う. They doubted that the speaker (私) was the owner of the
scabbard, meaning they didn’t think she was the owner.

The second sentence from the manga matches the second pattern, which is
similar in construction, and meaning, to 〜と思う, 〜と考える, etc. This 疑う would be
better translated as “to suspect” than “to doubt”. They suspected that the
speaker (私) was the owner of the scabbard, meaning they _did_ think she was
the owner although they were not sure if that was really the case.

I have no idea why such a mix-up happened when the novel was adapted to the
manga.

* * *

[EDIT]

Though I generalized the question in my explanation above, the particles are
not the only difference in these sentences. There are other differences that
come with it.

私があの鞘の持ち主である **こと** refers to the speaker (私) being the owner of the scabbard
in general terms. It doesn’t have to be a truth. It could as well be a
possibility. When it’s the object of 疑う, it means you doubt its validity.

私があの鞘の持ち主 **だ** , on the other hand, is an affirmation that the speaker is the
owner of the scabbard, although the degree of its certainty varies depending
on what verb follows. 疑う adds a sense of suspicion but it’s not much different
from 思う in this case.

* * *

[EDIT 2]

I have been reminded in the comments that 〜を疑う could also mean “to suspect.”
In this usage, the object usually refers to something negative, such as
disease or criminality. These days you can expect to get many search results
containing 感染を疑う.

However, this doesn’t seem to apply in the current context at all. If I
understand the description of the story correctly, the speaker is the real
King Author, and therefore, the legitimate owner of the scabbard. And she
knows it herself. If she says 私があの鞘の持ち主であること, that’s a fact for her. She
wouldn’t be annoyed if someone suspected it to be true. Besides, it seems a
fact that they doubted that she was the king when they first saw her.

Personally, I’m having a hard time seeing ambiguity in this sentence even
without context.




Your understanding is correct.

The question is about whether 〜 **を** 疑う and 〜 **と** 疑う mean the same thing,
and the answer is they don’t.

The first sentence from the novel matches the first pattern, and this 疑う means
“to doubt”. In this particular sentence, the whole of 私があの鞘の持ち主であること is the
direct object of 疑う. They doubted that the speaker (私) was the owner of the
scabbard, meaning they didn’t think she was the owner.

The second sentence from the manga matches the second pattern, which is
similar in construction, and meaning, to 〜と思う, 〜と考える, etc. This 疑う would be
better translated as “to suspect” than “to doubt”. They suspected that the
speaker (私) was the owner of the scabbard, meaning they _did_ think she was
the owner although they were not sure if that was really the case.

I have no idea why such a mix-up happened when the novel was adapted to the
manga.

* * *

[EDIT]

Though I generalized the question in my explanation above, the particles are
not the only difference in these sentences. There are other differences that
come with it.

私があの鞘の持ち主である **こと** refers to the speaker (私) being the owner of the scabbard
in general terms. It doesn’t have to be a truth. It could as well be a
possibility. When it’s the object of 疑う, it means you doubt its validity.

私があの鞘の持ち主 **だ** , on the other hand, is an affirmation that the speaker is the
owner of the scabbard, although the degree of its certainty varies depending
on what verb follows. 疑う adds a sense of suspicion but it’s not much different
from 思う in this case.

* * *

[EDIT 2]

I have been reminded in the comments that 〜を疑う could also mean “to suspect.”
In this usage, the object usually refers to something negative, such as
disease or criminality. These days you can expect to get many search results
containing 感染を疑う.

However, this doesn’t seem to apply in the current context at all. If I
understand the description of the story correctly, the speaker is the real
King Author, and therefore, the legitimate owner of the scabbard. And she
knows it herself. If she says 私があの鞘の持ち主であること, that’s a fact for her. She
wouldn’t be annoyed if someone suspected it to be true. Besides, it seems a
fact that they doubted that she was the king when they first saw her.

Personally, I’m having a hard time seeing ambiguity in this sentence even
without context.

