Why does this phrase use "de" and not "o" "te wo furu hito ni egao de kotae"? This phrase "te wo furu hito ni egao de kotae" is translated as "Smiling back to the people who waves their hands" "te wo furu hito ni" I suppose it's "to the people who waves their hands" , kotae is "to respond" and "egao" is "smile". Then why it's "egao de kotae" and not "egao o kotae" . With "egao de kotae" isnt it trying to say "respond a smile" or the literal translation would be another? Does this verb simply work with "de" instead of "o" or is there any other explanation and I'm getting it all wrong?

{} is not the object of , instead it's showing the manner in which the answer was given, "with a smile", hence the use of the particle . I don't believe that is a transitive verb in Japanese. You can use it with either or such as

> She answered "yes".

or

> She answered the questions.

But I don't believe it's grammatically correct or natural to say

> **