まで Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Particle
Essential Meaning: Up to / Until / As far as / Through
Construction:
- Time / Location Noun + まで
- E.g. 駅まで [Up to the station]
- E.g. 3時まで [Through 3 o’clock]
- Noun + まで
- E.g. ヘビまで [Up to / As far as snakes]
- Number / Counter + まで
- E.g. 三人まで [Up to 3 people]
Notes:
- X まで basically means “Until X“, “Up to X“, or “As far as X“.
- まで is commonly used with locations to convey movement up to a particular location.
- E.g. 駅から大学までは歩いて十分くらいです。[From the station to the university is about 10 minutes on foot.]
- With non-location nouns, X まで means “Through X” or “As far as X” in a more metaphorical sense.
- E.g. 私はへびまで好きだ。[I liked animals as far as snakes (I like animals so much that I even like snakes).]
- With time nouns, X まで means “Through time X“. Note that X is inclusive, so 7時まで means “Through 7 o’clock” rather than “Up to 7 o’clock“. In other words, it means “Up to 8 o’clock“.
- E.g. 私は来週の月曜日まで休みます。[I’ll be absent through next Monday (up to next Tuesday).]
Example Sentences:
このホールは二千人まで入れる。[This hall can fit up to 2000 people.]
あの人はねずみやスカンクはもちろんへびまで好きだ。[That person not only likes snakes and mice, they even go as far as liking snakes.]
アメリカ人は毎週月曜日から金曜日まで働く。[Americans work every week from Monday through Friday.]
スミスさんは刺身はもちろん、納豆まで食べるんですよ。[Mr. Smith not only eats sashimi, he even goes as far eating natto.]
飛行機が出るまでロビーで友達と話していた。[Up until the plane departed, I was speaking with my friend in the lobby.]
WILD Examples:
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