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Particle
| A particle that indicates a time limit on/for an action. | By; by the time (when) |
| 【Related Expression: までに; までで; 前に】 |
(ksa). 私は十時までに帰る・帰ります。
I'll come home by 10 o'clock.
(ksb). 学校が始まるまでにこの本を読んでおいて下さい。
Please read this book (in advance) by the time school starts.
| (i)Noun (time) | までに | |
| 五時までに | By five o'clock | |
| 明日までに | By tomorrow | |
| (ii)Vinformal nonpast | までに | |
| 話すまでに | By the time someone talks/talked | |
| 食べるまでに | By the time someone eats/ate |
(a). A:何時までに空港に行けばいいでしょうか。 B:出発の一時間前までに来て下さい。
A: By what time should I go to the airport? B: Please come one hour before departure.
(b). 僕はこのレポートを一月二十日までに書き上げなければならないんだ。
I have to finish writing this paper by January 20.
(c). ジェット機がパリに着くまでに本を三冊読んでしまいました。
By the time the jet got to Paris, I had finished reading three books.
【Related Expressions】
I. までに cannot be used with a verb that indicates a continuous action. Instead, まで 'continuously until/to X' is used.
[1]
[2]
II. When までに 'by' is preceded by an informal nonpast verb, it may be replaced by 前に 'before'. The difference between the two is the same as the English 'by' vs. 'before'. Thus, if までに in Example (c) is replaced by 前に, the sentence means 'Before the jet got to Paris I had finished reading three books.' More examples of the different uses follow:
[3]
III. までで, a particle which means 'something continues until/up to X (and stops at X, although it can continue beyond X)' is similar to までに. The differences in meaning can be seen in the examples below. In [4] までに is unacceptable because Lesson 10 is not the limit of domain (which is Lesson 20). In [5] までで is unacceptable because no important items appear after Lesson 10.
[4]
[5]