Learn Hardcore Japanese: imouto ha neru mae ni iyahon de ongaku wo kiki nagara, syousetu wo yonde iru. - My younger sister reads a novel while listening to music with earphones before bed.

Word

妹いもうと　は　寝ねる　前まえ　に　イヤホン　で　音楽おんがく　を　聞きき　ながら、　小説しょうせつ　を　読よんで　いる。imouto wa neru mae ni iyahon de ongaku o kiki nagara, shousetsu o yonde iru.

Meaning

My younger sister reads a novel while listening to music with earphones before bed.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Japanese

Lesson

Lesson 31

Breakdown of imouto wa neru mae ni iyahon de ongaku o kiki nagara, shousetsu o yonde iru.

はwa

topic particle

をo

direct object particle

Questions & Answers about imouto wa neru mae ni iyahon de ongaku o kiki nagara, shousetsu o yonde iru.

Why is the particle で used in イヤホンで?

で here marks the means or tool used to do an action.

イヤホンで音楽を聞く
= to listen to music *with earphones / *using earphones

In English we’d use with or using. In Japanese, で covers that meaning.

Other examples of で as “by / with / using”:

箸で食べる – eat with chopsticks
ペンで書く – write with a pen
バスで行く – go by bus

Using を with イヤホン would turn earphones into the direct object (the thing you’re listening to), which is wrong here—she’s not listening to earphones, she’s listening to music using earphones.

What does ～ながら mean in 聞きながら? How is it used?