Page 305 - Basic Japanese

Yo-jikan gurai Yo-ji gurai ni kite
kakarimashita. kuremasen ka.

It took about four Could you come at
hours. around 4 p.m?

Koregurai no koto de monku o itte wa ikemasen.

You should not complain about this kind of
thing. (It’s not a big deal.)

By contrast, the particle goro means ‘approximate point

in time, about then’ and cannot be used for quantity. The
idiom kono-goro means ‘recently’ (= chikagoro). Compare the

related noun koro ‘time, era, period,’ as in ano koro wa ‘at that
time (period).’

Yo-ji goro ni kite kuremasen ka.

Could you come at around 4 p.m?

Ano koro wa Nihon wa mada mazushii kuni deshita.

Japan was still a poor country at that time.

6.18. Particle ya

The particle ya is used to make an incomplete enumeration.

When you list several things but have not exhausted all the
items on your list, you use ya. If you do exhaust the list,

giving all the items, then you connect the items with the
particle to. Notice that the particles to and ya usually occur