までに

Particle (Basic ㊦ 228)

A particle that indicates a time limit on/for an action.

Equivalent: By; by the time (when)

私は十時までに帰る・帰ります。: I'll come home by 10 o'clock.
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.
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.
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.
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.

Formation

(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

Notes

【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]

山田は来月まで/*までにいる。
Yamada will stay here until/*by next month.

[2]

私は五時まで/*までに待っている。
I'll be waiting until/*by five o'cIock.

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]

a. 来月までに/*前にこの仕事をします。
I will finish this work by/*before next month.

b. 授業前に/*までに郵便局に行く。
I will go to the post office before/*by class.

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]

この教科書は二十課までありますが今学期は十課までで/*までに終わります。
There are up to twenty lessons in this textbook, but this semester we will stop at Lesson 10.

[5]

この教科書は二十課までありますが、大事なことは十課までに/???までで全部出て来ます。
There are (literally: up to) twenty lessons in this textbook, but the important items are introduced (literally: appear) by Lesson 10.