Structure
いつのまにか + Phrase
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Standard
使用域
一般
About いつの間にか
Although a combination of いつ 'when', の, 間 'interval', に, and か; いつの間にか is a set expression that is used as a stand-alone adverb to mean 'suddenly', or 'without noticing'. Literally, it just highlights an unknown interval within which something occurred, as seen by the question marking particle, か.
- 3年間日本人の友達と毎日日本語で話していたら、いつの間にか日本語が上手になっていた。After three years of speaking Japanese every day with my Japanese friend, I became fluent in Japanese without noticing.
- 久しぶりにクレジットカードの明細を確認してみたら、いつの間にか自動車保険の値段が上がっていた。I checked my credit card statement for the first time in a while and found that the price of my car insurance had suddenly gone up.
- 気づいたら、いつの間にか冬になっていた。Before I knew it, it was winter.
Fun-fact - Coming mainly from the inclusion か, this grammar pattern often carries the nuance of surprise. When you want to convey the same feeling without the nuance of surprise, あっという間に may be used instead. This is a similar expression which literally means 'in the time it takes to say あっ'.
- 楽しいことをしているとあっという間に時間が過ぎるよね。Time flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?
Synonyms
Examples
しばらく入院して久しぶりに外に出ると、いつの間にか冬になっていた事に気づいた。
After being hospitalized for a while, I went outside for the first time in ages and noticed that it had become winter without realizing it.
「いつの間にか彼女はネイティブみたいに話せるようになった。」
'Without me realizing, her speaking has grown to that of a native.'
Since いつのまにか is not used when a change is gradual, the sentence suggests that the speaker has not seen her for a long time, and during that time she has become proficient with language.
あなたの子供から目を離せばいつのまにか迷子になるかもしれない。ご注意ください。
If you take your eyes off of your child, they might get lost without you even noticing. Please, be careful.
いつのまにかもう1年が経ってしまった。
Without me realizing it, another year has passed (all too soon).
帽子を被ってないといつのまにか風邪を引く。だからきちんと帽子を被って。
If you do not wear a hat, you will catch a cold before you know it. That's why you should put on a hat.
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いつの間にか – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (6 in total)
SevenZeven
About 1 year ago
しばらく入院していて、久しぶりに外に出ると、**いつの間にか**冬になっていたと見つけた。
I couldn’t remember this construction at all, so I tried 「知らずに」 as a blind shot in the dark. Does the sentence make any sense like that?
wrt7MameLZE33wlmpCAV
About 1 year ago
I think you would be understood saying 知らず. いつの間にか seems to fit the sentence just a little better because of the nuance of surprise. In my opinion, it’d be fair for there to be a hint that 知らず is not what’s expected because that seems like a good guess to me.
Fuga
About 1 year ago
Hey @SevenZeven !
As @wrt7MameLZE33wlmpCAV said, you probably would be understood, but 知らずに here sounds extremely unnatural. 知らないうちに is a lot more natural. However, 知らないうちに and いつの間にか has a difference in nuance.
知らないうちに has a nuance that you had some control, or was aware about what was happening, but not entirely sure how or why it happened. いつの間にか has the nuance that something happened without warning because you were not paying attention to it or you couldn’t pay attention to it (due to an external or internal force). いつのまにか has the nuance of ‘it happened in a blink of an eye’, but 知らないうちに does not.
Example:
オレはみんなからいつのまにかポチと呼ばれるようになった。
Without noticing they have come to call me “Pochi.”
Nuance: I just started to notice that people are calling me ‘Pochi’. Because I wasn’t paying attention to what people were calling me, it seems to...
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