Grammar Info

N4 Lesson 2: 1/17

(とき)When, At the time of

Structure

Verb + とき
[い]Adjective + とき
[な]Adjective + + とき
Noun + + とき

Details

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About とき

とき, or (とき) in kanji, is a noun that is regularly used to signify 'when' something happened (a verb). However, unlike some other time expressions, とき is mainly used to express things that happen at regular intervals (habits, hobbies, etc.), or at broad times/individual events (when it rains, when there is a sale at the shop, etc.)

Using とき is quite easy! You just need to attach it to the end of any independent word (verbs, nouns, or adjectives). As with most cases where a noun will be attached to another word in Japanese, we will also be required to use な after な-Adjectives, and after nouns. The case-marking particle に will generally come directly after (とき), signifying that another verb is about to follow.

Caution

As discussed previously, ときに is primarily used to discuss when things happened. What this means is that it will not be used to highlight ongoing states that were true during the first action. For example 'the time you tripped over a log on Tuesday'.

  • 学校(がっこう)から(いえ)(かえ)った(とき)火曜日(かようび)だった。(Unnatural Japanese)
    The time when I was going home from school was Tuesday. (Tuesday is a state, rather than an action, so とき will not be used to express something like this)

When とき is used, the nuance will be that it is describing one thing leading to another, rather than a static thing.

  • (おれ)高校生(こうこうせい)(とき)(おれ)()(おんな)()告白(こくはく)、「え、無理(むり)...」って()
    When I was in highschool I asked out a girl I liked, and she said 'umm, no way…' ((とき) is describing the broad event of 'being a highschool student', while is goes on to describe another single event that happened during that time.

Synonyms

Examples

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    散歩(さんぽ)するとき音楽(おんがく)()

    I listen to music when I take a walk.

    授業(じゅぎょう)のとき(しず)かにしなくてはいけない

    When you are having class, you have to be quiet.

    あの映画(えいが)()とき()いた

    When I watched that movie, I cried.

    大変(たいへん)なとき(かれ)(おや)()くなった

    His parents died when he was going through a difficult time.

    (さむ)とき、お風呂(ふろ)(はい)りたくなる。

    When it is cold, I want to take a bath.

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        • Genki II 1st Edition

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        • みんなの日本語 I

          Page 146 [CH 23]

        • Genki II 2nd Edition

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          Page 24 [CH 28]

        • Marugoto Elementary 2 (A2) Rikai

          Page 58

        • Marugoto Elementary 1 (A2) Rikai

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        • [DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar

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        • [AIAIJ] An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese

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      とき – Grammar Discussion

      Most Recent Replies (11 in total)

      • jelly1

        jelly1

        Exactly my thoughts. The introduction/first example says it can be used for individual events but the Caution box says the opposite. Completely contradictory.

        Would be nice if we could get that point about に added to the page as well.

      • Lederhosen42

        Lederhosen42

        Here to add onto the folks who are confused by the fact that the first example sentence is seemingly completely contradictory to the information given in the Caution section. Spent a fair amount of time scouring the first example and Caution section examples to work out what the difference was, but couldn’t work out what it would be.

      • vertexmachina

        vertexmachina

        Here’s my understanding:

        The Caution box says “it will not be used to highlight ongoing states that were true during the first action” and the given example is At the time of A, it was Tuesday which is invalid because Tuesday is an ongoing state (24 hours of it). I think that’s the key. The first example sentence is just an Individual Event, of the form At the time of A, B. where B is discrete rather than continuous.

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