now that
since
Structure
- Verb[ て ] + こそ
Is this interchangeable with Verb + ことだけで ?
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Hey @ljoekelsoey !
This grammar point is not interchangeable with だけで. The ‘just by’ translation of てこそ has the nuance of ‘until…/unless…’, which だけで does not have.
Let’s look at this sentence for example:
親になってこそ、子供は奇跡だという考え方が分かる。The translation on the site is ’ Only by becoming a parent, you can understand the mindset that children are miracles.’, but the nuance this sentence carries is ’ Unless you become a parent first, you wont understand the mindset that children are miracles.’
When that てこそ is replaced with だけで, it will change the nuance to ‘Becoming a parent is the only thing necessary to understand that children are miracles.’ As you can see here, だけで does not carry the nuance of ‘unless…/only after…’, so it can’t replace てこそ without changing the nuance of the sentence completely.
We hope that answers your question!