ところだ (2)

Phrase (Basic ㊦ 496)

Someone/something is in the state where he/it is just about to do something, is doing something, has done something, or has been doing something.

Equivalent: Be just about to do something; be in the midst of doing something; have just done something; have been doing something; almost did something

春江は晩ご飯を食べるところだ・です。: Harue is just about to eat her supper.
春江は晩ご飯を食べているところだ・です。: Harue is in the midst of eating her supper.
春江は晩ご飯を食べたところだ・です。: Harue has just eaten her supper.
春江は晩ご飯を食べていたところだ・です。: Harue has been eating her supper.
私はもう少しで宿題を忘れるところだった・でした。: I almost forgot (was about to forget) my homework.
私は危ないところをジーンに助けてもらった・もらいました。: I was saved by Gene was I was in a crisis (literally: dangerous state).
お仕事中のところをすみません。: I'm sorry to bother you in the midst of your work.
僕は今出かけるところです。: I'm just about to go out now.
テリーと踊っているところをマーサに見られてしまった。: The state in which I was dancing with Terry was seen by Martha. / Martha saw me when I was dancing with Terry.
ご飯を食べ終わったところにまり子が訪ねて来た。: Mariko came (to see me) at the state in which I had just finished my meal. / Mariko came to see me when I’d just finished my meal.
三章まで読んだところで寝てしまった。: I fell asleep when I had read up to the third chapter (literally: in the state in which I had read it up to the third chapter).
私は危なく溺れるところだった。: I was almost drowned.
お忙しいところをどうもありがとうございました。: Thank you very much (for helping me) in the state when you are busy. / Thank you very much for sparing your precious time with me.
利男は一番大事なところでよく勉強しなかったから何も分からなくなってしまった。: Toshio has come to the point of not understanding anything because he didn’t study well in the state where (the class) was the most important. / Toshio has gotten totally lost because he didn’t study hard when it was most important.
お休みのところをすみません。: I’m sorry (to disturb) the state in which you are off duty. / I’m sorry to bother you when you are off duty/on vacation.

Formation

(i) Vinformal	ところだ
	{話す /話した}ところだ	Be just about to talk/have just talked
	{食べる /食べた}ところだ	Be about to eat/have just eaten
(ii) Vて{いる /いた}	ところだ
	{話している /話していた}ところだ	Be in the midst of talking/have been talking
	{食べている /食べていた}ところだ	Be in the midst of eating/have been eating
(iii) Adjective い informal nonpast	ところ
	忙しいところ	The state in which someone is busy
(iv) Adjective な stem	なところ
	大事なところ	The state in which something is important
(v) Noun の	のところ
	休みのところ	The state in which someone is off duty/on vacation

Notes

1. ところ itself means 'place', but it can also mean 'state' or 'time' when it is used with a modiiying verb, adjective or noun.

2. As seen in Key Sentence (A) - Key Sentence (D), verbs which precede ところ are either past or nonpast and either progressive or non-progressive, and each one of the four verb forms expresses a different aspect of the action.

3. As seen in Key Sentence (E), when the preceding verb is nonpast and non-progressive and the following copula is in the past tense, the sentence may mean 'someone or something almost did something.' (The literal meaning is 'someone or something was about to do something.') When ところだった means 'almost did something', such adverbs as もう少しで 'just by a little' and 危なく 'nearly' are often used also, as in Key Sentence (E) and Example (e).

4. ところ can be followed by either the copula, as in Key Sentence (A) - Key Sentence (E), Examples (a) and (e), or such particles as を, に, へ and で, as in Key Sentence (F) and Key Sentence (G), Examples (b) - (d) and (f) - (h).

5. When adjectives or nouns with の precede ところ, ところ is usually followed by a particle rather than the copula, as in Examples (f) and (h). The following sentences are ungrammatical:

a. *私は今忙しいところです。

b. *私は今休みのところです。

【Related Expressions】

I. When ところ is used as a dependent noun, its function appears to be similar to that of 時. However, these two expressions are different in that ところ basically indicates a state, while 時 indicates a time. Thus, [1] makes sense by itself, but [2] does not.

[1]

僕は電話をかけるところだ。
Literally: I'm in the state where I'm going to place a call. (= I'm just about to call someone.)

[2]

*僕は電話をかける時だ。
*I am when I'm going to place a call.

II. Verbいる/いたところだ is similar to Verbいる/いた. The difference is that the former focuses more on the state or the scene while the latter concentrates on the action. Compare the usages of the two expressions in [3] and [4].

[3]

あ、ジョンが走っている/*走っているところだ。
Look! John is running.

[4]

この写真は学生がフリスビーをしているところです/*しています。
This picture shows students playing frisbee (literally: is a scene of students playing frisbee).

III. Verb informal pastところだ is similar to Verb informal pastばかりだ. However, their implications are different. That is, the former indicates that someone/something is in the state of having just done something, while the latter implies that someone/something did something and not much time has passed since then. Thus, ところだ is strange in [5] because 一週間前 'a week ago' is too far in the past to be used to express "have just done something".

[5]

私は山本先生には一週間前に会ったばかりだ/*ところだ。
I met Professor Yamamoto only a week ago.