とき Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Noun
Essential Meaning: At the time when / When
Construction:
- (Verb / い-Adjective) informal + 時
- E.g. 話す時 [When X speaks]
- E.g. 食べる時 [When X eats]
- な-Adjective Stem + [な / だった] + 時
- E.g. 静かな時 [When X is quiet]
- Noun + [の / だった] + 時
- E.g. 先生の時 [When X is a teacher]
Notes:
- The noun とき (時 in kanji) simply means “Time“, but when used with a modifying clause it means “When“, “At the time when“, or “At the time of“.
- E.g. 出発の時 [At the time of departure]
- E.g. 学生の時 [When I was a student]
- E.g. ジュースが安い時[At the time when juice is cheap]
- The clause that precedes 時 is a relative clause, so it must follow the rules of relative clauses. Namely:
- (1) The subject of the relative clause must take the が particle if it is different from the subject of the main clause.
- E.g. メアリーは私が日本にいた時フランスにいた。[When I was in Japan, Mary was in France.] The subject of the relative clause (i.e. 私) is marked by が, while the subject of the main clause (i.e. メアリー) is marked by は.
- (2) The predicate of the relative clause is typically informal, and the copula だ changes to な for な-Adjectives and の for nouns.
- E.g. 静かな時 [when X is quiet] 静か is a な-Adjective, so the copula だ changes to な in a relative clause.
- E.g. 学生の時[when X is a student] 学生 is a noun, so the copula changes to の in a relative clause.
- (1) The subject of the relative clause must take the が particle if it is different from the subject of the main clause.
- The time particle に after 時 is optional. Time is emphasized slightly more when に is present, and the action itself is emphasized more when に is absent.
- E.g. 私は学生の時よく勉強した。[I studied hard when I was a student.]
- E.g. 私は学生の時によく勉強した。[It was when I was a student that I studied hard.]
- With the structure Sentence 1 時 Sentence 2, if Sentence 2 is in the past tense and Sentence 1 expresses a state (rather than an action), Sentence 1 can be in either the past or nonpast tense.
- E.g. 私は日本にいる時田中先生に会った。[When I was in Japan, I met Mr. Tanaka.]
- E.g. 私は日本にいた時田中先生に会った。[When I was in Japan, I met Mr. Tanaka.]
- E.g. 肉が高い時は魚も高かった。[When meat was expensive, fish was also expensive.]
- E.g. 肉が高かった時は魚も高かった。[When meat was expensive, fish was also expensive.]
- When Sentence 1 in Sentence 1 時 Sentence 2 expresses an action (rather than a state), the meaning of the sentence changes depending on:
- (1) The tenses of Sentence 1 and Sentence 2:
- E.g. Present Tense + Present Tense: 私はご飯を食べる時手を洗う。[I wash my hands when I eat meals.]
- E.g. Past Tense + Present Tense: 私はご飯を食べた時手を洗う。[I wash my hands after I’ve eaten my meals.]
- E.g. Present Tense + Past Tense: 私はご飯を食べる時手を洗った。[I will have washed my hands when I eat my meals (i.e. I wash my hands right before I eat meals).]
- E.g. Past Tense + Past Tense: 私はご飯を食べた時手を洗った。[I washed my hands right after I finished my meal.]
- (2) Whether or not the verb is a verb of movement:
- E.g. 私はシカゴへ行く時寿司を食べるつもりだ。[I’m going to eat sushi before I leave for / on the way to Chicago.]
- E.g. 私はシカゴへ行った時寿司を食べるつもりだ。[I plan to eat sushi after I’ve arrived in Chicago.]
- E.g. 私はシカゴへ行く時寿司を食べた。[I ate sushi before I left for Chicago.]
- E.g. 私はシカゴへ行った時寿司を食べた。[I ate sushi after I arrived in Chicago.]
- (3) Whether or not the action in Sentence 1 and Sentence 2 take place simultaneously:
- E.g. 私はシカゴへ行く時車で行く。[When I go to Chicago, I go by car.]
- E.g. *私はシカゴへ行った時車で行く。[When I went to Chicago, I will have gone by car.] This is ungrammatical.
- E.g. 私はシカゴへ行く時車で行った。[When I went to Chicago, I went by car.]
- E.g. 私はシカゴへ行った時車で行った。[When I went to Chicago, I went by car.]
- (1) The tenses of Sentence 1 and Sentence 2:
- Note that in English, “When” is often used to express conditions (e.g. “You can watch TV when you finish your homework“; “You’ll be surprised when you see it“) 時 is not used in this way because it refers to time in a literal sense. To express a condition, たら or と (Natural Consequence) can be used instead.
- E.g. それを見たらおどろきますよ。[You’ll be surprised when you see that.]
- E.g. それを見るとおどろきますよ。 [You’ll be surprised when you see that.]
- E.g. *それを見る時おどろききますよ。[You’ll be surprised when you see that.] 時 can not be used to make a conditional statement.
- E.g. *それを見た時おどろききますよ。[You’ll be surprised when you see that.] 時 can not be used to make a conditional statement.
Example Sentences:
私は日本にいた時お茶を習った。[When I was in Japan, I learned about tea.]
マークは試験の時にかぜをひいた。[Mark caught a cold at exam time.]
松本さんは朝ごはんを食べる時いつもテレビを見る。 [Matsumoto-san always watches TV when he eats breakfast.]
テリーはジュースが安い時にたくさん買っておいた。[When the juice was cheap, Terry bought a lot of it.]
僕は静かな時しか本を読まない。[I only read books when it’s quiet.]
私が大学生だったとき妹はまだ三つだった。[When I was a university student, my sister was still only three.]
これは出発の時にわたします。[I’ll give this to you at the time of departure.]
WILD Examples:
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