日: 2026年6月8日

Japanese Learning(S23): Difference between {[A]toki,[B].} and {[A]to, [B].}

In the section 23, you learned two types of sentence constructions;

A1

[Conditional Clause A]toki, [Main Clause].

Exmaple: Douro o Wataru toki, Kuruma ni Ki o Tsukemasu. (When crossing a road, I pay attention to cars.)

A4

[Conditional Clause A]to, [Main Clause].

Example: Douro o Wataru to, Kombini ga Arimasu. (If you corss the road, you will find a convinience store.)

Is the difference between the two clear to you?

(1) Freedom about Main clause

{[A]toki,[B].}

— When A is happening, someone does B. The “someone” has freedom to do B to some extent. “Some extent” means that B is limited to be what an ordinary people usually do. If B is what an ordinary people usually don’t, different expression needs to be used. But it is not what we are focusing on now. 

Example: Uchi e Kaeru toki, Osake o Kaimasu. (When I am on my way home, I will buy Sake.)

{[A]to, [B].}

(2) Time sequence of the conditional clause and the main clause.

{[A]toki,[B].}

{[A]to, [B].}

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This post was written with reference to the Section23 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”