〜から/〜で作る details
made from; made out of — から where the material is transformed, で where it still shows
日本酒は米から作られます。
nihonshu wa kome kara tsukuraremasu.
Sake is made from rice. neutral
この椅子、木で作ったの?すごいね。
kono isu, ki de tsukutta no? sugoi ne.
You made this chair out of wood? That's impressive. casual
- alternant
- past
- polite
Examples
made from — the raw material is transformed, and you cannot see it in the result
日本酒は米から作られます。
nihonshu wa kome kara tsukuraremasu.
Sake is made from rice. neutral
これ、牛乳から作ったチーズなんだって。
kore, gyuunyuu kara tsukutta chiizu na n datte.
Apparently this is cheese made from milk. casual
made out of — the material is still there to see in the finished thing
この椅子、木で作ったの?すごいね。
kono isu, ki de tsukutta no? sugoi ne.
You made this chair out of wood? That's impressive. casual
当社の食器は、すべて国産の木で作っております。
tousha no shokki wa, subete kokusan no ki de tsukutte orimasu.
All of our tableware is made out of domestically grown wood. formal
Formation
{N}から作るattaches to noun{N}で作るattaches to noun
Variant notes
- から作られる — the passive is the written default for describing how something is produced — 日本酒は米から作られます.
Notes
(the wood is gone), 本棚は木で作る (the wood is the shelf).
Related patterns
Similar
で spans venue, tool, cause and material at once; this is its material corner, and the only corner where から can take over — 木で作る and 木から作る are both Japanese, while ×はさみから切る is not.
Lookalikes
Same から, and the noun in front tells you which — a material feeds 作る and answers 何から (米から), a reason answers どうして and can be a whole clause (寝坊したから), which no material ever is.
Combines with
Product descriptions almost always passivize this frame, because the maker is irrelevant and the material is the news — 作られる puts the material in the から slot and the product in the topic.