Grammar Info

N3 Lesson 8: 7/22

た途端(とたん)に

The instant or moment, As soon as, Just as

Cannot be used after Nouns or Adjectives

Structure

Verb［た］+ とたん(に)

Details

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    Standard

  • 使用域

    一般

About たとたんに

たとたんに, frequently seen using its kanji form た途端(とたん)に is a structure used to convey that something happens 'the instant', or 'the moment' that something else occurs. It is a combination of the auxiliary verb た (indicating the completion of a verb), and the noun 途端(とたん) 'on the tip of' used adverbially (with に).
(A) た途端(とたん)に (B) is used to express (B) things that are beyond the control of the speaker, and may be considered strange, or unexpected.
  • 高速(こうそく)に乗(の)った途端(とたん)に、タイヤがパンクした。
    The moment I got on the highway, my tire got punctured.
  • 布団(ふとん)に入(はい)った途端(とたん)に先輩(せんぱい)から電話(でんわ)がかかってきた。
    The moment I got into my futon, I received a call from my senpai.
As 途端(とたん) literally means 'on the tip of', any (B) action is considered to happen either directly upon (A), or even simultaneously with (A).

Examples

  • 出(で)たとたんに、雨(あめ)が降(ふ)り始(はじ)めた。

    The instant I went outside, it began to rain.

  • 窓(まど)を開(あ)けたとたん、鳥(とり)が部屋(へや)の中(なか)に入(はい)ってきた。

    As soon as I opened the window, a bird flew into the room.

  • 帰(かえ)ろうとしたとたん、仕事(しごと)を頼(たの)まれた。

    Just as I was about to leave, I was given more work to do.

  • 彼女(かのじょ)は随分(ずいぶん)大人(おとな)になっていたが、見(み)たとたんあの子(こ)だと分(わ)かった。

    She had grown up a lot, but I knew that child was her the moment I saw her.

  • 青(あお)になったとたんに飛(と)び出(だ)すのは危(あぶ)ないよ。

    It's dangerous to speed off the instant (the traffic light) turns green.

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たとたんに – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (5 in total)

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    @Juppy
    Hey and sorry for the late answer

    @eccol
    Hey and welcome on the community forums!

    To be honest, this is a matter of convention. Some Japanese feel that adding に if there is a comma already is not necessary. Not an error though.

    I think that we will change those hints, and simply accept answers with に.

  • eccol

    eccol

    Thanks for the reply!
    The sentence I was being marked wrong on was 座ったとたん用事を思い出した。which I now notice doesn’t even have a comma. Is that correct?

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    Yes, 座ったとたんに用事を思い出した。is correct , and should be accepted, since it is added to the answer list

    It might have been some kind of one-time bug, I will tell the technical part of the team to check it

    Sorry fot the inconvenience!
    Cheers!

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