〜ことに: 'To My Surprise/Delight' (Speaker's Feeling)
The reaction comes before the news
〜ことに lets you announce your reaction before you give the news. You take an emotion word — 驚いた ("was surprised"), 残念な ("regrettable"), うれしい ("happy") — attach ことに, and place it at the front. The rest of the sentence is the fact you feel that way about. English does the same thing with sentence adverbs: "unfortunately, …", "to my surprise, …", "happily, …".
残念なことに、試合は中止になった。
ざんねんな ことに、しあいは ちゅうしに なった。
Unfortunately, the match was cancelled.
驚いたことに、ヤッタンは漢字を千個も覚えていた。
おどろいた ことに、ヤッタンは かんじを せんこも おぼえていた。
To my surprise, Yattan had memorized a thousand kanji.
驚いた = past form; the feeling is the speaker's.
うれしいことに、モチも試験に合格した。
うれしい ことに、モチも しけんに ごうかくした。
Happily, Mochi passed the exam too.
The optional は (〜ことには) adds a touch of emphasis and is a little more literary; ことに alone is the everyday choice.
Only a feeling word can sit in front
The single thing that decides whether ことに is legal is the word you put before it: it has to name an emotion or evaluation. 驚いた, 残念な, うれしい, 困った ("was troubled"), ありがたい ("grateful") all pass because each one is a reaction. A neutral verb that merely reports an event — 雨が降った ("it rained"), 電車が来た ("the train came") — has no feeling to front, so it can't take ことに. When you only want to state a plain cause, reach for 〜ので instead.
Attaching it to adjectives and verbs
Because こと is a noun, the feeling word connects to it exactly the way its part of speech normally connects to a noun:
| Word type | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| い-adjective | adj + ことに | うれしいことに (happily) |
| な-adjective | adj + な + ことに | 残念なことに (unfortunately) |
| Verb (past) | verb-た + ことに | 驚いたことに (to my surprise) |
Watch the two attachment points learners rush past: な-adjectives keep their な (残念なことに, never ✗残念ことに), and verbs almost always take the past (た) form — a reaction looks back on something that has already become clear, so 驚いたことに is standard, not 驚くことに. Fixed favorites like 困った ("troublingly / annoyingly"), がっかりした ("was disappointed"), and ありがたい show up again and again.
困ったことに、財布を家に忘れてきた。
こまった ことに、さいふを いえに わすれてきた。
Annoyingly, I left my wallet at home.
困った is a fixed favorite: 'troublingly / annoyingly.'
ありがたいことに、先生が放課後に教えてくれた。
ありがたい ことに、せんせいが ほうかごに おしえてくれた。
Thankfully, the teacher taught me after school.
おかしなことに、弟は怒るどころか笑い出した。
おかしな ことに、おとうとは おこるどころか わらいだした。
Oddly enough, my little brother, far from getting angry, burst out laughing.
Keep it at the front
The construction only works from the head of the sentence — that fronting is the whole point. 驚いたことに、… (✓) sets up your reaction and then delivers the fact; tacking ことに on mid- or end-sentence, as if it were an ordinary noun phrase, breaks the pattern. So the mistakes to guard against cluster around three things: don't front a non-emotion word, don't bury the phrase in the middle, and don't default verbs to the present tense.
In a nutshell
- 〜ことに = front a sentence with the speaker's feeling about what follows.
- Only emotion / evaluation words: 驚いた, 残念な, うれしい, 困った, ありがたい.
- Attach: い-adj + ことに / な-adj + な + ことに / verb-た + ことに.
- It fronts the sentence and sounds expressive, somewhat written.
Practice it
Pick the feeling word and form that correctly fits 〜ことに.
＿＿＿に入れるのに最もよいものを選びなさい。
＿＿＿よると、きみにも一緒にきてもらう。
Frequently asked questions
Does 〜ことに always go at the start of the sentence?
Yes. The construction works by fronting your reaction before the fact: 驚いたことに、彼は来なかった. Placing it mid- or end-sentence breaks the pattern.
What's the difference between ことに and ことには?
They mean the same thing. Adding は (〜ことには) gives slight emphasis and feels a little more literary; ことに alone is the more common, neutral choice.
Can I use any verb before ことに?
No — only verbs expressing a feeling or evaluation, and usually in the past form: 驚いた, がっかりした, 困った. A neutral verb like 降った (rained) doesn't work.
Is 〜ことに formal?
It's expressive and leans somewhat written. It's perfectly fine in essays, articles, and careful speech, but in very casual chat people often just say 残念だけど or びっくりした、〜.
Where 〜ことに fits
Shaky on this? Get these solid first
- 〜こと · N4 — こと turns a verb or clause into a noun: 話すことは難しい ('speaking is hard'). Learn the formation, こと vs の, and frames like 〜ことがある, 〜ことにする, and 〜ことになる.
Don't confuse it with
- 〜ことか · N3 — 〜ことか turns a question word into an exclamation of strong feeling: どんなに心配したことか ('how worried I was!'). Learn the formation, the rhetorical nuance, and common mistakes.
- 〜ものだ · N3 — 〜ものだ states general truths and common-sense advice, recalls how things used to be (〜たものだ), and voices strong feeling. Learn all four N3 uses and 〜ものではない.
More N3 grammar to explore
Keep going with related patterns at the same level:
- 〜くせに — 〜くせに means 'even though,' but always carries criticism or blame: 知っているくせに教えてくれない. Learn the formation, the same-subject rule, and how it differs from のに.
- めったに〜ない — めったに〜ない means 'rarely' or 'hardly ever.' Learn why it always pairs with a negative verb, how it compares to あまり〜ない, ほとんど〜ない, and 全然〜ない, plus examples.
- 〜向け vs 〜向き — 〜向け = made/intended for a target audience (子供向けの番組). 〜向き = suited to by nature, or facing a direction (初心者向き, 南向き). Learn the contrast and avoid mixing them up.
- 〜ないことはない — 〜ないことはない is a double negative that softly affirms: 'it's not that I can't / it's possible, I suppose.' Learn the formation, the nuance, and how it differs from 〜ことはない.
- 〜に違いない — 〜に違いない means 'must be' or 'I'm sure' — a strong, evidence-based conclusion. Learn the formation, the certainty ladder vs かもしれない・でしょう・はず, and common mistakes.