Lesson 33 of 40
Vocabulary Sprint w13 — when, on one line from 昔 to 将来
about 10 minutes
After this lesson you can
- Place a time word on the axis from 昔 to 将来, and pick the right neighbour.
- Choose やっと for relief and とうとう for what was coming anyway.
Words this lesson teaches
- 昔
- long ago — the far end of the axis; 昔々 opens a folk tale
- このあいだ
- the other day — days or weeks back, not this morning
- さっき
- a moment ago — within today, and casual
- 最近
- recently — looks back from now at a stretch of time just past
- このごろ
- these days — describes now itself rather than looking back at it
- これから
- from now on — and, on its own, "right now I'm about to"
- もうすぐ
- very soon — minutes or days, never years
- 将来
- the future — of a person's life or career; the future in general is 未来
- しばらく
- for a while — and the while can be short or long, which the sentence decides
- 久しぶり
- after a long time — お久しぶりです is what you say on meeting again
- さ来週
- the week after next — the syllabus writes さ来週; the standard spelling is 再来週
- さ来月
- the month after next — the same さ, and the same standard 再
- たまに
- occasionally — rarer than ときどき
- そろそろ
- it is about time to — how a guest signals leaving; not "gradually", which is だんだん
- やっと
- finally, at last — with relief, and after effort
- とうとう
- finally, in the end — of something that was always going to happen
- すっと
- smoothly, in one motion — not "straight", which is まっすぐ
- ずいぶん
- considerably — and carries surprise: more than you expected
- すっかり
- completely — of a change that left nothing behind
What it explains
しばらく can mean a minute or a decade
「しばらく お待ちください」 at a counter means a moment. 「しばらくですね」 to somebody you have not seen means years. The word says only that an interval passed, and the length comes from the situation — which sounds hopelessly vague and is in practice never ambiguous, because a receptionist is not commenting on your absence and an old friend is not asking you to wait. Japanese does this often enough to be worth naming: a word gives the shape of the thing and the context supplies the scale. ずいぶん and すっかり work the same way, ずいぶん saying more than expected and すっかり saying nothing left over, neither of them committing to a number.
The scene itself is in the app.
Lesson one of this track is free to read in full. From lesson two on, the story, the audio and the review are part of a free account.