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Expressing temporal relationships, timing, and sequential actions
What each pattern means, when to use it, and the mistakes that cost marks in the exam.
Used when a short, specific action or event occurs within the duration of another continuous state. Unlike 'aida' (without 'ni'), 'aida ni' focuses on a moment within that timeframe.
Common mistakes
Indicates that an action is currently happening and is often interrupted by an unexpected event. It is more emphatic than 'aida ni' or 'te iru tokoro'.
Common mistakes
A formal expression used when B happens immediately after A is finished. It implies that A is a prerequisite for B. Often used in business context for planned actions.
Common mistakes
Indicates that an action was completed recently according to the speaker's subjective feeling. It can be used even if significant time has passed (e.g., 'I just bought this house last year').
Common mistakes
Used when an unexpected change or event occurs immediately after an action. The speaker cannot use their own intentional actions in the second half of the sentence.
Common mistakes
Expresses that every time action A happens, action B always follows or occurs as well. It cannot be used for routine daily events like 'every morning I wake up'.
Common mistakes
Expresses that a certain state has continued uninterrupted from the time a specific event happened until now. Not used for very recent events.
Common mistakes
Describes the specific stage of an action. Dictionary form means 'about to', 'teiru' means 'in the middle of', and 'ta' form means 'just finished'.
Common mistakes
Used when you do a secondary action (B) while you are primarily doing another action (A) because it is convenient. A is the main purpose, B is an extra task.
Common mistakes
Expresses doing an action while a certain state continues, or before a state changes. Often used when there is a limited window of opportunity. It connects to verbs, adjectives, and nouns with specific connectors like 'na' or 'no'.
Common mistakes
Adaptive practice
Our adaptive engine will quiz you on these 10 grammar patterns and track which ones you need to review most.