Page 254 - Basic Japanese

adjectives, it means ‘until something happens or is’:

次の電車が来るまで駅で待ちましょう。
Tsugi no densha ga kuru made eki de machimashō.
Let’s wait at the train station until the next train

comes.

次の電車が来るまで駅で待ちました。

Tsugi no densha ga kuru made eki de machimashita.
I waited at the train station until the next train
came.

毎日遅くまで仕事をします。
Mainichi osoku made shigoto o shimasu.

Every day I work until very late.

The noun uchi means ‘interval, inside’ (the derived
meaning ‘house’ is a specialized example of this). Following

a verb or an adjective in the imperfect mood, it means
‘while someone/something is/was doing something or in a

certain way.’ Uchi may be followed by ni, wa, or ni wa and is
used when there is a benefit of doing some action in the

specified period. In many cases uchi and aida seem
interchangeable, both meaning ‘(during) the interval.’

However, aida does not have any implication about the
benefit that is implied by uchi.

子供が寝ているうちに新聞を読みます。

Kodomo ga nete iru uchi ni shinbun o yomimasu.
While the children are asleep, I’ll read a
newspaper.

明るいうちに運転しましょう。