nimotsu ga buji ni todoita to shitte, hottoshita.

I felt relieved when I learned that the package had arrived safely.

Breakdown of nimotsu ga buji ni todoita to shitte, hottoshita.

• が: subject particle
• と: quotative particle
• 〜て: connective form
• 〜た: past tense

Questions & Answers about nimotsu ga buji ni todoita to shitte, hottoshita.

Why is が used after 荷物 instead of は?

荷物が marks 荷物 as the subject of 届いた: the package is the thing that arrived.

Using は would be possible in some contexts, but it would make 荷物 more of a topic, as in as for the package.... In this sentence, the focus is simply on the fact that the package arrived safely, so が sounds natural.

• 荷物が届いた = The package arrived
• 荷物は届いた = As for the package, it arrived / The package did arrive

What does 無事に mean here?

無事に means safely, without problems, or without incident.

So 荷物が無事に届いた means the package arrived and nothing went wrong with it. This is very common with deliveries, travel, and people arriving somewhere safely.

Examples:

• 無事に着いた = arrived safely
• 無事に終わった = ended without problems

Why is it 無事に and not 無事で?

Here, 無事に works adverbially: it modifies the verb 届いた and tells you how the package arrived.

So:

• 無事に届いた = arrived safely

You may also see 無事で in other structures, but in this sentence 無事に + verb is the normal pattern.

Why is the verb and not ?