Grammar Info

N3 Lesson 9: 10/22

に掛(か)けてOver (a period), From ~ until, Through

There is another use of にかけては that indicates that someone/something is remarkable in a certain field

Structure

Noun + にかけて(は)

Details

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    Standard

About にかけて

Coming from the る - Verb 掛(か)ける 'to suspend', にかけて conveys that something is happening 'over a period of time', 'from (A) until (B)', or 'all through (A)'. This grammar structure is a combination of the case marking particle に, and 掛(か)ける combined with the conjunction particle て. Literally, the meaning can be thought of as follows:

に - Marks (A) as the location/state.

掛(か)けて - States that something is 'suspended' (in an ongoing process) in that location/state.

The 'something' that is an ongoing process will usually be indicated by a (B) part of the sentence. This expression will primarily be used with nouns.

にかけて is primarily used in written language, although it appears quite often in the news as well, indicating that some weather pattern is expected to continue for a set period of time.

Caution

Occasionally, the adverbial particle は is used after にかけて. This transforms the meaning of 'all through (A)', to something similar to 'limited to within (A)'. Any (B) phrase in these types of sentences will be contrasting (B) with (A), rather than saying (B) is occurring within (A).

  • 今(いま)は雨(あめ)が降(ふ)っているが、朝(あさ)にかけては晴(は)れるでしょう。
    It is raining right now, but it seems like it will clear up during the morning. (Limited to the extent of tomorrow morning)
  • 今月(こんげつ)から来月(らいげつ)にかけては忙(いそが)しい時期(じき)になるので、無理(むり)せずに頑張(がんば)ってください。
    Limited from this month through until next month, it is going to be a busy season, so please do your best without overworking yourself.

As we can see by these examples, this is an extension of the standard use of は, which shows that everything before it is a 'set state'. Therefore '(A) は (B)', means that 'only (A) defines (A), (B) is a separate entity/discussion'.

Examples

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    今週末(こんしゅうまつ)に掛(か)けて、雨(あめ)が降(ふ)るでしょう。

    It looks like it is going to rain over the weekend. (through)

    この一年(いちねん)に掛(か)けて、いろいろなことを経験(けいけん)したい。

    I want to experience a variety of things over this next year. (through)

    先週(せんしゅう)に掛(か)けて降(ふ)った大雪(おおゆき)が、まだ全然(ぜんぜん)溶(と)けない。

    It kept snowing all through last week, and it hasn't melted yet. (over)

    来年(らいねん)に掛(か)けての目標(もくひょう)を立(た)ててください。

    Please establish your goals over the next year. (from ~ until)

    関東(かんとう)から東北(とうほく)に掛(か)けて雨(あめ)が降(ふ)り続(つづ)いている。

    It has been raining from the Kanto area to the Tohoku area. (throughout)

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にかけて – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (6 in total)

  • Daru

    Daru

    にかけて highlights the time period itself, whereas を通して highlights the passing of.

    Due to this nature in nuance, にかけて is more natural, although it’s not wrong to use を通して.

    Hope this helps!

  • Humin

    Humin

    The book “A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar” lists this as ～から～にかけて on page 101.

    The book “A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar” also has this to say on page 451:

    On the other hand, X ni kakete cannot be used when X represents a span of time, number of occurrences or items, a topic area, or distance/area.

    It seems like half the example sentences violate this rule. Is there something I’m missing?

  • nekoyama

    nekoyama

    I think that rule is just very literal (in English). E.g. “a weekend” is a timespan of two days (can’t use にかけて), but “this weekend” is not a timespan because it also has a specific start and end point (can use にかけて because there’s a fixed end point).

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