LEARN + JAPANESE / 61 of 186 JLPT N4
All Along, or Right in the Middle 間に・間
間に marks a single action happening at some point inside a longer stretch of time. 間 alone, without に, marks an action stretching across that entire span. Both usually follow ている, describing an ongoing background activity.
While Takuya was eating breakfast, I made coffee.
While Takuya was at school, I was working my part-time job.
Hint · 힌트
間に marks a one-time event slipped into the gap, “I made coffee” happens once, at some point during breakfast. 間 without に marks an activity running the whole time alongside another one, “I was working” the entire time he was at school, not just a moment of it.
I'm thinking of getting dinner made while the baby's asleep.
A friend came by while Yuki was out, so they couldn't meet.
Hint · 힌트
間 and 間に can also follow a plain noun directly, no verb needed, 留守の間に, “while out,” 日本にいる間, “while in Japan,” treating the whole stay as the span being described.
Vocabulary
| Japanese | English |
|---|---|
| to wash dishes | |
| to take a shower | |
| cram school | |
| being away from home | |
| baby | |
| to die | |
| to keep (a pet) | |
| popcorn | |
| to come back home | |
| to have someone watch (a person) | |
| period, span of time | |
| in the meantime | |
| in parallel, simultaneously | |
| at the same time | |
| in the background | |
| to notice | |
| to continue | |
| a gap, an opening | |
| from start to finish | |
| moment, instant |
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