彼女と結婚したい。

English Translation

I hope to marry her.

Why would you use here と instead of を?

Hi @Sersovi, welcome to the forum!

Tis is an interesting question, but as a native Italian speaker, it did not occur to me, because we commonly use a similar construct (and also one that mirrors the English version).

I think 「結婚する」may be thought as meaning “to get married”, instead of “to marry”. So using a direct object would not work (You cannot say “I want to get married her”, you have to say “I want to get married with her”).

@Sersovi
I’m native Japanese speaker. 彼女結婚したい is grammatically broken and we never say that way. Particle を bears the nuance of “the speaker takes an action toward the object.” So, the speaker (doer) and the object are in different situations. However, a future husband and wife are in the equal position. And marriage should be realized upon a mutual agreement. That’s why we use particle と (with, together) in this context.

If you want to use particle を,

彼女結婚させたい = I would like to let/make her get married with someone.

would a good natural example. The speaker (I) would be her father or her match-maker. The speaker is not a future husband of her.

1 Like