内(うち)にWhile, During

Most Recent Replies (15 in total)

• 

  mrnoone

  English translation:
  while, during, before

  Structure:
  Verb[ ている ] + うちに
  い - Adjective + うちに
  な - Adjective + な・ うちに
  Noun + の・ うちに

  View on Bunpro

• 

  Anthropos888

  The text in brackets is confusing and not relevant
  
• 

  mrnoone

  Hey

  It has been fixed

• 

  Ambo100

  うちに

  while

  before

  during

  It looks like for this grammar point, none of the examples use the definition ‘before’ which is a bit confusing.

  Perhaps the nuance section could give a note that うちに can only mean before when it is following the negative form of a verb as in ないうちに?

• 

  mrnoone

  @Ambo100

  Thanks for the feedback!
  I have removed the “before” translation completely

• 

  DarkConfidant

  So what’s the difference between this and 最中に?
  Also, why would the latter be incorrect?

• 

  mrnoone

  Hey and long time no see!
  It might not be wrong per se, 最中 is more precise since it lit. means “very middle” and expresses doing something in the middle of something. うち is more general, meaning “while”.

  Cheers!

• 

  gyroninja

  I recently encountered the before meaning. Thankfully the reading section for うちに still includes information for the before meaning. Maybe in the future it should be added back or split into a new grammar point?

• 

  nekoyama

  The “before” meaning comes from a negative form before うち, essentially “while… is not…”. There is a grammar point for ないうちに here.

• 

  gyroninja

  I must have missed that. Thanks.

• 

  testing

  What is the difference between the two sentences? Is the 間に describing that during the ...

• 

  TomMalow

  On of the reviews for this grammar point does not seem to match the answer that is accepted as seen below.
  
• 

  Redglare

  It’s giving me the orange funny face when I enter うちの, but also showing as an alternative correct answer after entering just うち. Not a fan of mixed signals. Is うちの acceptable in this case or not?

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• 

  Desopolis

  I’m using the grammar book “New Kanzen Master N3” at a Tokyo language school and it has some different nuance and I’m not seeing it matched anywhere. Not sure how much it matters but I figured I’d add it.

  In the book, has two meanings for うちに
  ~うちに…

  1. Do: …(verb) before state/situation changes. The Phrase ~ expresses a state or situation, and … expresses an intentional action.

  2. While: ~ (continuous process or action) is happening, … (a change) also happens. Refers to a change that happens without to volition of the speaker during a certain period.

  for 1, it seems the time isn’t just the best, but a possible limit. Like “While in Japan” implies that time is limited (before that state changes)

  for 2, The second action is a change and one out of the persons control: 赤ちゃんは食べているうちに寝てしまった。
  The baby fell asleep while eating.

  with the action of falling asleep being out of the persons control…

• 

  Glaciem52

  This is the ChatGPT It would be nice if someone can confirm if this is right.

  1. 運転している間に眠くなったので、コンビニで休憩をした。

  • Translation: “While (I) was driving, I became sleepy, so I took a break at the convenience store.”
  • Usage of 間に (aida ni): This sentence uses “間に” to emphasize the temporal relationship between the action of driving and the feeling of becoming sleepy. It suggests that the sleepiness occurred during the ongoing action of driving.

  1. 運転しているうちに眠くなったので、コンビニで休憩をした。

  • Translation: “While (I) was in the process of driving, I became sleepy, so I took a break at the convenience store.”
  • Usage of うちに (uchi ni): This sentence uses “うちに” to emphasize the completion of the action (運転している) before the sleepiness sets in. It implies a sense of urgency or the desire to take a break before the sleepi...
• 

  bilowik

  I keep re-reading the explanations and going over examples here and in the 間に grammar point and I still cannot discern the difference between the two. Google has failed me as well, and ChatGPT doesn’t even seem to know since it fairly consistently explains them each using what are essentially synonymous descriptions in English as well.