When: 時
The native word for “time” is 時, but most importantly, it may mean “when” when used to create a dependent clause. This lesson will serve as both a recap on how particles behave with non-deictic1 time expressions as well as how tense and aspect marking is handled when there is more than one clause.
- Tense: The time in which a clause occurs (future, past, present).
- Aspect: The manner in which a clause occurs in relation to time (tense).
Orthography Note: Words which take greater grammatical function but still retain their literal meaning such as 時 tend to be written in kanji or kana based on the writer’s preference. As such, both spellings will be used interchangeably.
～とき｛に・は・には・∅・も・にも｝
As we learned in Lesson 46, it is the one non-deictic time phrase that sets precedent for deciding between に・は・には・∅ (no particle marking), and the conditions we learned that dictate which particle (combination) works.
Given that it is the most basic yet broadest of all non-deictic expressions, the default choice in particle, when in doubt, is に. To reflect this in English, you may wish to directly translate ～時に as “at the time…”
1. 歯を磨いたときに血が出た。
I bled when I brushed my teeth.
Yet, as we also learned, even when a non-deictic expression is not used in one of the enumerated situations in which に is habitually or obligatorily dropped, Ex. 2 demonstrates that に may seemingly be dropped for no other reason than adjusting the tone of the sentence. In the case of ～時, the use of no particle (∅) is associated with a succinct, formal tone.
2. 朝（に）起きたとき（に）、喉がカラカラに乾いていた。
When I woke up in the morning, my throat was parched.
As for ～時は, in which it is topicalized, the time frame in question is contrasted with other time frames, much like with “whenever.” Being open-ended beyond the scope of most other vague, non-deictic expressions such as 昼 (daytime) or 夜 (night), the topicalizing effect causes the dependent clause to function more so as a complex adverb, and the use of に conversely causes a narrowing in scope of the time phrase to a certain instant.
3. 困ったときは声をかけてください。
Please give me a shout whenever you are in a bind.
As for ～時には, the speaker is specifically making clear that the moment in time in question should not be confused with another time frame—”precisely when/by the time when.” Though it is still contrastive like ～時は, the scope is far narrower.
4. 気がついたときにはもうお手遅れだよ。
By the time you’ve realized it, it’ll be too late.
Putting aside matters related to tense, observe how the examples below differ from one another on the basis of how or how not ～時 is qualified through particle use.
5. 日本に行く時には、空港でウィスキーを買いました。
I bought whiskey right before I went to Japan at the airport.
6. 食べている時に、テレビは見ません。
I don’t watch TV when I’m eating.
7. 学校に行く時、電話します。
When/before I go to school, I’ll call you (before).
8. 桜がきれい[な・だった]時に、日本へ行った。
I went to Japan when the cherry blossoms were pretty (in bloom).
9. 分からない時は、先生に聞いてください。
When(ever) you don’t understand, ask a teacher.
10. お金がないとき、何を食べてしのぎますか。
When you don’t have money, what do you eat to get by?
11. 前回台北2に来たときは、誰にも会わなかったが、今回は多くの友人に会いました。
Last time I came to Taipei, I didn’t meet anyone, but this time I met a lot of friends.
The inclusion of も after ～とき follows the same principles as any other non-deictic time expression. As we know, も adds the nuance of “even.” As for when to use に with it, this is determined by how the scope is narrowed. ～にも is generally more emphatic and narrower in scope than ～には. While the latter contrasts the statement with another time frame (not necessarily specifically mentioned), ～にも specifically denotes a certain time phrase as ‘also’ being so.
12. 日本人は熱いお茶を飲むときもズズズッて音を立てて飲みますが、欧米人は音を立てないのです。
Even when Japanese people drink hot tea, they make slurping sounds as they drink it, but Westerners do not make noise (when they drink).
13. 私達が、スーパーマーケットなどで買い物をするときにも、スーパーマーケットと私達の間でスーパーマーケットの商品の売買契約が成立しています。
Even when we shop at places like supermarkets, a contract for sale and purchase is established between us and the supermarket.
Tense Marking
Tense marking with the dependent clause contained ～時 in relation to the independent clause (main clause) does not, unfortunately, follow the same logic as tense marking works in English, but at least Japanese is consistent in its own methodology.
In English, there is a general rule that the tense of all clauses in a sentence agree/match each other.
i. When I corrected Taylor’s Japanese, he got upset.
ii. When I correct Taylor’s Japanese, he gets upset.
Japanese, too, does allow for sentences with clauses that happen to agree with each other, and they are fairly easy for learners to parse.
14. ご飯を食べるとき、いつも手を洗います。
[(Right) when/before] I eat a meal, I always wash my hands.
15. ご飯を食べ始めるとき、「いただきます」という。
We say “itadakimasu” when we start eating a meal.
16. 日本に帰ったとき、まず(お)寿司を食べました。
I first ate sushi [right when/after] I returned home to Japan.
In Japanese, however, the dependent clause (the “when” clause) may appear in either the non-past or past tense irrespective of whether the main clause is in the non-past or past tense.
17. ご飯を食べ終わったとき、いつも「ご馳走さまでした」と言います。
We say “gochisо̄-sama deshita” [right when we have finished/after finishing] a meal.
18. 昨夜、ご飯を食べるとき、手を洗いませんでした。
Last night, [right when/before] I ate, I didn’t wash my hands.
This results in four combinations, and to be absolutely clear before even discussing what these combinations mean, they are not the same.
| [～するとき][～する] | [Non-Past + “when”][Non-Past] (present/future) |
| [～するとき][～した] | [Non-Past + “when/before”][Past] (main clause happens before dependent clause) |
| [～したとき3][～する] | [Past + “when…has”][Non-Past] (dependent clause happens before main clause) |
| [～したとき][～した] | [Past + “when”][Past] (recollective) |
It turns out that many sentences made with ～時 create a before-and-after relationship which aids in its correct interpretation. Consider the difference between the following.
19. ベトナムへ行く時に、ベトナム語を少し習いました。 （日本で）
Before going to Vietnam, I studied a little Vietnamese.
20. ベトナムへ行った時に、ベトナム語を少し習いました。 （ベトナムで）
When I went to Vietnam, I studied a little Vietnamese.
The tense of the dependent clause indicates whether the action in said clause has already occurred or not, and it is that piece of information which makes the before-and-after relationship with the main clause clear. This is why we know the speaker learned Vietnamese while still in Japan in Ex. 19 but learned Vietnamese during his time in Vietnam in Ex. 20.
There are instances when ignoring this before-and-after relationship can cause the sentence to be ungrammatical.
21. 朝起きるときに、口をすすぐ。X
When I wake up in the morning, I rinse my mouth. △
It is impossible to rinse your mouth before or even at the moment of just waking up. Although such implication is not intended in English with the same wording, the Japanese verb 起きる only captures the instantaneous moment of waking up, thus, making Ex. 22 ungrammatical.
22. 寝たときに、犬を外に行かせる。X
I make the dog go outside after I go to sleep. X
You cannot be taking your dog outside after you have already gone to bed unless you have mastered sleep walking, and even then, the Japanese sentence would not use ～ときに as this is solely a temporal expression and does not relate to condition.
What makes a sentence made with ～時 different from simply using the Japanese equivalents for “before” or “after” is that Action X with ～時 and Action Y that follows are still independent of each other but in the same time frame as far as the speaker is concerned.
23. ソウルの空港に着いたときに、電話します。
I’ll call you when I have arrived at the airport in Seoul.
24. 車のウインカーのライトが外出先で切れたときはどうするんですか。
What do you do when your car’s turn signal burns out when you’re traveling?
25. 寂しくなったときに読みます。
I read (this) when I(‘ve) become lonely.
26. ろうそくを消したときに煙が出るんですよね。
You know how smoke rises when you blow out a candle?
Incidentally, when Action X and Action Y seem to happen simultaneously through implied causality, the non-past and past tense appear interchangeable before ～時. This is also extended to situations in which no specific event of the past is being cited and Action X is applicable to whenever Y occurs or has occurred.
27. そのボールが｛爆ぜる 〇・爆ぜた ◎｝とき、がちゃんと大きな音がした。
There was a big bang right when the ball exploded.
28. 韓国人の友達とビビンバを｛食べる・食べた｝ときは、いつも銀製のお箸で食べました。
Whenever I ate bibimbap with my Korean friend(s), I always ate with silver chopsticks.
When, however, it is clear that Action X is done whenever Action Y is done, Action X is expressed in the non-past, as neither action is completed before the other.
29. 中国滞在中、中国料理を食べるときは、箸を使いました。
When I was in China, I used chopsticks whenever I ate Chinese food.
30. 神戸へ出張するときは、新幹線に乗りました。
I rode the Shinkansen (bullet train) when I went out to Kobe for business.
31. 僕んち4（に）入るときは、いつも裏口から入ってるんだけど、やめてほしい。
Whenever you enter my house, you always come through the back, but I want you to quit (doing that).
32. 小林さんが講演会を開くときは、多少遠くてもいつも聴きに行きました。
Whenever Mr. Kobayashi opened a lecture seminar, no matter if it was far, I always went to go listen (to his lectures).
When we add the progressive tense (～ている) into the mix, we get the following scenarios. Note that depending on the overall dynamics of the sentence, how ～ている is interpreted—being both the progressive aspect marker and for denoting continuous/habitual state—becomes clearer from how tense behaves from the clauses involved.
| [～ているとき][～ている] | When/as V1 (dependent clause) happens or one does V1, V2 (main clause) occurs, but the verbs must describe the same action.5 |
| [～ているとき][Non-Past] | When V1 (dependent clause) is ongoing, V2 may experience its onset, but the onset has not occurred (future). |
| [～ているとき][Past] | As V1 happens or one does V1, V2 has occurred, but V2 is just an instance within the time frame of V1. |
| [～ていたとき][～ていた] | When V1 had been ongoing, V2 had been ongoing. |
| [～ていたとき][Non-Past] | With V1 having occurred, V2 takes place. |
| [～ていたとき][Past] | As V1 had been occurring, V2 also occurred, but V2 was just an instance within the time frame of V1. |
| [Non-Past + とき][～ている] | When(ever) V1 occurs, V2 is ongoing/habitually occurs. |
| [Non-Past +とき][～ていた] | When V1 had occurred but before it had completed, V2 was ongoing. |
| [Past +とき][～ている] | By the time V1 has occurred, V2 has been ongoing and still is. |
| [Past +とき][～ていた] | By the time V1 had occurred, V2 had been ongoing. |
Before looking at examples, there are a few definitions you should always keep in mind.
①Instantaneous verbs (瞬間動詞) such as 立つ (to stand), as far as Japanese grammar is concerned, occur instantaneously as per the name. This serves as a semantic restriction on tense/aspect in respect to ～とき constructions, or at least for certain intended interpretations. As we know, ～ている has two distinct functions. If you were to see 立っているとき, you would know to interpret this as meaning “when standing” not in the sense of just now standing but “having been standing and still standing.”
②Durational verbs (継続動詞) such as 寝る (to sleep) may also be referred to as “condition verbs” (状態動詞) because of how the state they describe requires more than just a single snapshot of time. They also coincide with the progressive aspect interpretation of ～ている.
33. チャーハンやスパゲティなどを食べているときに、スプーンやフォークを使っていて、すくいにくいと感じることがありませんか。
Have you ever found fried rice, spaghetti, or the sort difficult to scoop up from using a spoon or fork when you’re eating it?
34. 寝ているときに地震が起きた。
There was an earthquake while (I) was asleep.
35. 寝ているときに、トコジラミが体を這っている気がする。
When I’m asleep, it feels like bed bugs are crawling over my body.
36. 走っているときに誰も道を譲ってくれない。
When I’m running, no one gives me the right of way on the street(s).
37. 図書館が閉まっているときに資料を返却することはできますか。
Can you return resources when the library is closed?
38.人にお願いをするときによくやっていた。
I would do that often when I would ask people favors.
39. 用事でこのあたりに通っていたときにランチで使用していた。
I would use (this spot) for lunch when I would commute to this area on errands.
40. 喉が渇いたときにはすでに脱水症状が始まっている。
When your throat has become parched, you have already begun showing symptoms of dehydration (and they are persisting).
41. 気付いたときには、もう夜１１時になっていました。
When I had noticed, it had already become 11 PM.
42. メールを読んでいたとき、地震があって、とってもびっくりしたよ。
An earthquake happened when I was reading my e-mails, and I was so shocked.
43. 亡くなった親が年金を受け取っていたときは、死亡届を出すほかに受給停止の手続きを行わなければなりません。
When your deceased parent has been receiving pension, aside from issuing their death certificate, (you) must process the suspension of their benefits.
44. エアコンをつけるときは設定温度を２６℃にしている。
Whenever I turn on my AC, I have the temperature set to 26℃.
45. エアコンをつけているとき、ドアや窓はきちんと閉めましょう。
When you have the AC on, be sure to properly shut doors and windows.
46. 集中力が切れたときは、脳のエネルギーが不足していることがあります。
Your brain is oftentimes low on energy when you lose your concentration.
When the predicate of the dependent clause with ～時 is adjectival (形容詞 or 形容動詞) instead of verbal, the tense/aspect dynamic is simplified to three scenarios.
| [Non-Past + “when”][Non-Past] | When “X” is so, Y is so/occurs. |
| [Non-Past + “when”][Past] | “In the time X is true,” Y has occurred. |
| [Past + “when”][Past] (recollective) | When “X” had been true, Y had occurred. |
Because states described by adjectival predicates in Japanese are true6 within their clause and do not require a duration to be accomplished like an action does, this key difference is what prevents the non-past from occurring in the main clause with a dependent clause in the past tense. That would mean the description made by the adjective would no longer be valid by the time the main clause occurs, but that is not logical with adjectives without interjecting verbal morphology, and “when” would not even necessarily be the right word either, and this is true in both English and Japanese.
47. この老犬は若いとき、とても美しかった。
When this old dog was young, it was really beautiful.
48. 君が若かったとき、わしは君を大事にしてやったけど、今はわしの存在を認めてくれはしないや。(Old Person)
When you were young, I would treat you dearly, but now you won’t even recognize my existence.
49. 天気が悪い時に、ビデオゲームをした。
When the weather was bad, I played video games.
50. 寒いときには温まるうどんをどうぞ！
Here’s some udon to warm you up when it’s cold!
51a. うちの猫は、若かったときは、よく糸くずで遊んでいるものだ。X
51b. うちの猫は、｛若い・若かった｝時は、よく糸くずで遊んでいたものだ。〇
51a. When our cat has been young (but no longer is), she plays with string. X
51b. When our cat [was/had been] young, she [played/had played] with string. 〇
To illustrate the point on how 51a could be salvaged in both languages, consider Ex. 52. Note how not only is ～とき not used, a lot of verbal constructs have to be used in conjunction with the adjective of the dependent clause for the sentence to be grammatical.
52. うちの猫がもうちょっと頭がよくなっていたら7、糸くずで遊んでくれるかなと思う。
Once our cat has become smarter, I think she will play with string.
This same relationship with tense/aspect found with adjectival predicates also holds true with stative verbs, and what greater example of this than the existential verb いる. When the dependent clause containing いる occurs in the same time period as the main clause, implementing tense agreement or having it be in the non-past with the main clause in the past tense does not produce a significant difference in meaning. As we have seen, both clauses being in the past tense produces a past-perfect aspect interpretation—”had been”—which aids in recollecting.
53. 私は埼玉に｛いる・いた｝時、二階建てのアパートでタイ人の友達と住んでいました。
When I [was/had been] in Saitama, I [lived/had lived] with a Thai friend in a two-story apartment.
When the event/action of the main clause and the state of being described by いる in the dependent clause do not hold true over the same amount of time, the main clause must occur within the time range of the dependent clause with いる. How this pertains to the tense/aspect dynamic of いる itself is context-dependent.
54. 僕が海外に｛いた 〇・いる X｝とき、彼女は僕を裏切って、友人の知り合いと付き合ってあいつのマンションに引っ越したんだ！
When I was overseas, my girlfriend dumped me, got together with an acquaintance of a friend of mine and moved into his apartment!
55. 学校に｛いる #・いた #｝ときに地震があった。
There was an earthquake when I was [at/at the] school.
In Ex. 54, いる is incorrect because いる takes on an active role of being8 synonymous with “living,” but in Ex. 55, いる more clearly simply indicates that the speaker is at said locale. Yet, the choice between non-past and past changes the nuance of the sentence considerably. With いる, it makes it seem that the speaker is in school as a student. With いた, the speaker is recalling an earthquake when they were at the school.
With noun-predicates (those which use the copula as the verb for the dependent clause), there is one interesting phenomenon that occurs that would not otherwise be explained with what we have learned thus far.
In practice, the particle の may supplant the copula regardless of whether it is rendered in the non-past or past tense. While using the copula would completely mirror how adjectival predicates behave in relation to tense/aspect, when there is little retrospective feelings towards the event of the dependent clause, の is more likely than だった.
This is not to say that の is completely interchangeable with だった in this context. In fact, when the subjects are not the same in each clause, only だった is grammatical.
56. 僕は学生｛の・だった｝時に（は）、あまり本を読まなかった。
I didn’t read a lot of books when I was a student.
57. 父がまだ兵士｛の X・だった 〇｝ときは、私は２歳でした。
When my father was still a soldier, I was two years old.
It must also be duly noted that, as we have learned previously, the question as to whether に・には・∅ is used is completely predicated on there being no other grammatical dynamic regarding case involved. If another case particle must be invoked, ～時 does not lose its status as a function word, but it will no longer translate as “when,” and the relationship between its literal meaning of “time” and what that other case particle means must be taken into consideration to properly understand the combination.
58. 高校に入学したときから、数えて20年が経ちました。
20 years have passed since I entered high school.
In Ex. 58, the reason for why ～時から translates to “since” is because the case particle から denotes the onset time of the following clause.
- Non-deictic time should be remembered as a time phrase whose point of reference in time is not set to “now” as in the time of utterance. ↩︎
- 台北 is officially read as たいほく, but たいぺい is now the prominent reading. Interestingly, the standard reading for 北京 (Beijing) is ペキン, which is based off the older pronunciation of the city’s name: Peking. The adoption of new 音読み reflective of their Modern Mandarin Chinese pronunciations for place names as well as culture-specific terminology, especially food names, is on the rise. ↩︎
- Whether the action/event of the dependent clause is still ongoing will depend on what kind of verb is being used. For instance, in Ex. 3 we see 困ったときは translated as “whenever you’re in a bind.” The use of ～た indicates that getting in the bind has occurred, but in context we know that it is actually interchangeable with ～ている for how the condition persists to also show that it is still ongoing. ↩︎
- 僕んち (= 僕の家) is viewed as a cute, child-like contraction. ↩︎
- If the actions are not one of the same thing, then one verb will take precedence over the other, and that would call for using “while”-related grammar which we have yet to cover. ↩︎
- Truth statements pertain to the establishment of a predicate as in the meaning of the statement is valid within the context but also not contingent on additional context for that judgment to be made. In the case of adjectives, as they do not inherently display “future tense” interpretations in the non-past when void of any affixation, we can deduce that the attribute(s) bestowed upon their subjects is true in the now. Meanwhile, for verbs in the same isolated environment, tense cannot be so easily deduced, and therefore, there may be multiple truth statements that need to be worked out, and in any event, “aspect” will most likely be a major factor. ↩︎
- ～たら is the 未然形 of the auxiliary ～た, and it is used to create a conditional, meaning, ～ていたら describes a “future event that would have taken place and would still be the case at the time the main clause might come to pass.” ↩︎
- “Active” meaning that there is an agent associated with the state of being overseas, that being the person living overseas—agent ≠ subject. ↩︎