From, until, of — から・まで・の

A stub and a watch. From here until there, から and まで.

In this lesson you will

• Say 九時から五時まで for hours and ここから駅まで for space
• Ask からですか / までですか about opening time and last time
• Link nouns with の: 日本の食べ物, 朝のコーヒー, 大阪の地図

Today’s scene

How it works

Time span: A から B まで. 九時から十時まで. 月曜日から金曜日まで. You can use only から or only まで when one edge is enough: 五時半からです。十時までです。

Place span: ここから駅まで. 大阪から京都まで. まで does not require に. 駅までに行きます is a different, fussier meaning (by that time/point). This week: 駅まで行きます / 駅まで歩きましょう.

の sits between nouns. Left noun modifies right noun. 日本の食べ物 food of Japan. 大阪の地図 a map of Osaka. 私の鍵 my key. 朝のコーヒー morning coffee. English “of” often runs the other way around in word order. Japanese is left-to-right modification: modifier の modified.

You can stack: 大阪の駅までの地図. Do not stack for sport. One の is often enough. からの and までの appear: 九時からの仕事, 十時までのチェックイン. Receive them. Produce simple spans first.

から, まで, and の are small and they run a traveler’s day. Opening hours. Walking distance. Whose bag. What kind of map. If you skip them, you will mime a lot of clocks with your hands.

から marks the starting edge. 九時から. ここから. 大阪から. まで marks the ending edge. 十時まで. 駅まで. 京都まで. Together: start から end まで. You can drop one edge when the other is the news. チェックアウトは十時までです. 営業は九時からです. In the dialogue, the convenience store refuses the question’s shape: 二十四時間です. That is a useful answer to receive. いつでも大丈夫です is extra kindness. You can still ask 何時からですか everywhere else.

Place まで with a motion verb is “as far as”. 駅まで歩きます. ホテルまで行きます. You do not need に on 駅 if まで is already the endpoint. 駅に行きます and 駅まで行きます overlap in many tourist sentences. まで emphasizes the span. Use it when you have a from: ここから駅まで.

十分です in the dialogue is “ten minutes”, not “it is enough”, though 十分 can mean that in another spelling and context (充分 / 十分). Here Sato is giving a duration after a walking question. Duration with 分 you met in beginner-11. Numbers never left.

の is the noun linker. English “of” and “’s” and sometimes a mere adjective-like noun (“morning coffee”) all collapse toward の. 私の部屋. 日本の食べ物. 朝のコーヒー. 大阪の写真. The thing on the left describes or owns the thing on the right. If you think in English “map of Osaka”, you must reverse the of-phrase: Osaka + の + map.

の is not は. 私の部屋は静かです stacks linker and topic: my room / as for that room / it is quiet. Students drop の and say 私部屋, which is a bruise, not a sentence.

から as “because” is real Japanese: 暑いからです. We are not teaching that today on purpose. If your brain offers “because” every time you see から, tell it to sit down until the clock span is finished. One word, several jobs, one job per week.

二十四時間 is にじゅうよじかん — twenty-four hours. You can receive the phrase as a chunk even if 時間 is new. 時間 is hour-duration, 時 is o’clock. Different counters, related kanji. Do not panic. Chunk it.

Korean speakers: 부터 / 까지 map onto から / まで quite well. 의 maps onto の with the usual warning that Korean 의 is often dropped in speech; Japanese の is not dropped in 私の部屋. Chinese speakers: 从 / 到 and 的 are cousins. 的 is not always の — adjectives you already learned do not take の (高いホテル, 静かな部屋). の is for noun to noun. English speakers: do not say オブ. Spanish speakers: de is a decent intuition for の, then remember Japanese order is de’s reverse of “mapa de Osaka”.

Polite closers stay. 七時までです. Not a barked 七時まで unless you are reading a sign aloud to yourself. Signs may omit です. Your mouth should not, at a desk.

Practice on real hours. Look at a shop in your head. 何時から何時までですか. Answer with a span. Then name three の phrases you can touch: 私のかばん, 日本の茶, 朝のパン. Then a walk: ここから台所まで.

In Sato’s last line, 駅まではこの道です uses まで on a place and の on この道. You already own both. That is a map in one breath.

Write two spans and two の phrases on paper. Say them with です. Tomorrow 好き will try to steal を again. You will need の to say 日本の食べ物が好きです like a person who lives here, not like a phrasebook that only likes “sushi”.

Draw a line. Left end から, right end まで. Put a time on each. Say 九時から七時までです. Put a place on each. ここから川まで. Then erase one end. 七時までです. 九時からです. The machine still works with one wheel. That is why shop staff answer with only まで when you asked 何時までですか.

の-chains: 私の友だちの部屋 is grammatical and ugly if you stack without need. Prefer 友だちの部屋 if 私 is obvious. Prefer 大阪の地図 over 日本の大阪の地図. One の is a link. Three の is a drawer of cables.

の also makes の-phrases that behave like nouns: 赤いの “the red one” you will meet more with adjectives. In 大阪の, the の is still noun-to-noun. Keep the jobs separate in your notes: の between nouns this week.

から with people — 友だちから — can mean from a friend (a source). まで with people is rarer as “until a person”. Stick to time and place for production. Source-から will return when you send packages.

Signs drop です: 九時〜二十二時, から and まで replaced by a wave dash. Read 〜 as から…まで. Say です when you report the sign to a human: 十時までです.

Korean 부터/까지, Chinese 从/到, English from/until, Spanish desde/hasta, Hindi se/tak: the mapping is friendly. の is the one that reverses English of. Drill only the reversal: of-phrases flip. 日本の茶, not 茶の日本 unless you mean something very strange.

Practice on your own day. 何時から何時まで勉強しますか. Answer with a span. Then ここから台所まで歩きます. Then three の: 私のかばん, 日本の地図, 夜の店. Then ask a fake clerk 何時までですか.

二十四時間です is a chunk for convenience stores. 年中無休 you may see on a sign — year-round no holiday — receive later. Do not wait for perfect kanji. Ask 今日は開いていますか in a future ている lesson; this week ask 何時からですか.

If you mix から “because” into a time sentence, you get poetry: 九時からです already means “it is from nine”. You do not need 九時から because. One から per clause this week.

Write 一 to 十 again beside 時, then add から and まで. The beginner series is repeating numbers on purpose. Clocks do not care that you are bored. Bored means you are close to owning them.

A last pass in English, because the particles are too small to respect: from is the start, until is the end, of is the left-hand noun. Say a full day as a span before you sleep. Breakfast from seven until eight. The walk from the door until the station. A map of the town, a key of the room, tea of the morning — then flip those of-phrases into Japanese order. If you only remember the Japanese syllables and not the English jobs, you will freeze when a clerk asks until when. Name the job first, then the word. From. Until. Of. Then speak.

から / まで

九時から十時まで from 9:00 until 10:00
ここから駅まで from here to the station
五時半からです。 It is from 5:30.
十時までです。 It is until 10:00.

の links nouns

私の部屋 my room
日本の食べ物 Japanese food
朝のコーヒー morning coffee
大阪の写真 a photo of Osaka

Sentences you can use

Close, but not this

OK 九時から十時までです。
NG 九時まで十時からです。

Start with から, end with まで. English “from / to” maps in that order. Do not flip them because まで felt stronger.

OK 大阪の地図です。
NG 地図の大阪です。

Modifier comes first. 大阪の地図 = map of Osaka. 地図の大阪 would be “Osaka of the map”, which is nonsense here.

Say it out loud

Next we return to 好きです and beat が until を gives up. You already used 日本の食べ物が好きです in an example. That が is the whole next class.

Write one sentence today