Page 255 - Basic Japanese

Akarui uchi ni unten

shimashō.

Let’s drive while it is still light.

若いうちに頑張りなさい。

Wakai uchi ni ganbari nasai.

Work hard while you are young.

After a negative, uchi means ‘while something (still)

doesn’t happen; as long as something (still) isn’t so,’ and
this is a common Japanese way to say ‘before something

happens, before something is so’:

忘れないうちに薬を飲みましょう。
Wasurenai uchi ni kusuri o nomimashō.

Let’s take medicine before we forget.

警察が来ないうちに逃げよう。

Keisatsu ga konai uchi ni nigeyō.
Let’s run away before the police come.

暗くならないうちに帰った方がいいよ。

Kuraku naranai uchi ni kaetta hō ga ii yo.
It’s better to go home before it gets dark.

5.19. Verbs meaning ‘know’

There are two verbs often translated ‘knows’: shiru and
wakaru. Shiru takes a direct object. When affirmative, it is

most often used together with iru.