The particles から and まで

Today in this lesson we are going to look at two particles instead of one because they are often complementary, these are the particles から and まで. You will have noticed right away; these particles are made up of two kana while all the particles we have seen so far have only been made up of one kana.

The particle から expresses a point of origin or a starting point and the particle まで expresses the point of arrival or ending point, that is, the limit.

The particles から and まで indicate both a starting point and an ending point relative to space and / or time.

Take a look at the few examples below, first in English :

I go by car from the hotel to the forest park.
→ physical, geographic space

I play from 10A.M. until 12P.M..
→ time space

These two particles can be used quite separately. For example :

I play from 10A.M..
→ time space

I play until 12P.M..
→ time space

Of course, you have to respect the order in which these particles appear in the sentence. If we mean :

I go by bike from the hotel to the beach.

We will first have the particle から and then the particle まで, which makes perfect sense. After all, in English we don’t say : « I go by bike to the beach from the hotel. ». This syntax is not correct. In Japanese, it’s the same.

Now let’s take our examples seen above and see what this gives in Japanese :

私は車でホテルから森林公園まで行く。
わたしはくるまでホテルからしんりんこうえんまでいく。
I go by car from the hotel to the forest park.

The hotel is my starting point and the forest park is my destination point.

私は自転車でホテルから東京駅まで行く。
わたしはじてんしゃでホテルからとうきょうえきまでいく。
I go by bike from the hotel to Tokyo station.

The hotel is my starting point and Tokyo station is my destination point.

Now let’s see other examples :

中田は船で福岡から北海道まで行く。
なかたはふねでふくおかからほっかいどうまでいく。
Nakata goes by boat from Fukuoka to Hokkaido.

Fukuoka is my starting point and Hokkaïdo is my destination point.

彼女は朝から晩まで働く。
かのじょはあさからばんまではたらく。
She works from morning to night.

The morning is my starting point and the night is my destination point. Here it is a temporal space.

風香の授業は午後4時半までだ。
ふうかのじゅぎょうはごご4じはんまでだ。
Fuuka’s classes end at 4:30 p.m.
(Lit. As for Fuuka’s classes, it’s until 4:30 pm.)

In this sentence, we have to get out of the primary meaning of the verb だ of description so that our sentence seems more English. Be aware that this happens quite frequently.

星野は心から祈る。
ほしのはこころからいのる。
Hoshino prays with all her heart.
This sentence is a Japanese expression. The starting point of prayer is the heart (figurative sense).

All this having been explained, we will now make sentences starting from English. If we mean :

Usagiyama returns to Sapporo from Paris.

Let’s analyze this sentence: we understand that « Paris » is the starting point, so we will write パリから.

Then we have Sapporo which is the end point so... we will use the particle に : 札幌に. Indeed, remember the particle に expresses the end point while the particle まで represents the limit.

The end point and the limit are two very different notions, and in Japanese we will use either the particle に, or the particle まで depending on what we are trying to express.

Then we have the topic with the particle は : 兎山は.

Then the verb « to return, to come back » which is said in Japanese 戻る.

So, our sentence will be :

兎山はパリから札幌に戻る。
ほしのはこころからさっぽろにもどる。
Usagiyama returns to Sapporo from Paris.

Another very interesting example this one :

白鳥は毎年五月から七月にオーストラリアからニュージーランドに移り住む。
はくちょうはまいとしごがつからしちがつにオーストラリアからニュージーランドにうつりすむ。
Swans migrate from Australia to New Zealand every year between May and July.

In this sentence, rather than translating as « from May to July », we have instead translated as « between May and July ». We start from the idea that not all swans are going to leave at exactly the same time, they will instead migrate in waves, and perhaps not all necessarily in May. Most may only be leaving in July. Finally, swans that leave Australia in May will probably arrive in New Zealand in May as well... So, to transcribe all these little ambiguities, we will rather say « between May and July ».

Now let’s see another example :

伊織は窓から西瓜の種を投げる。
いおりはまどからすいかのたねをなげる。
Iori throws the watermelon seeds out the window.

In this sentence, you might be tempted to use the particle で to describe the place where an action is taking place when in fact it is rather to describe the place from which the action of throwing the watermelon seeds is carried out. So, we will use the particle から.

Now let’s see another example :

田中は毎日午前8時から午前11時まで市営プールで泳ぐ。
たなかはまいにちごぜん8じからごぜん11じまでしえいプールでおよぐ。
Tanaka goes swimming at the municipal swimming pool every day from 8A.M. to 11A.M..

In this sentence, we have the particle で of the « place where an action takes place ». The action of swimming takes place at the municipal swimming pool. So : 市営プールで . しえいプールで.

Tanaka is the topic of the sentence : 田中は . たなかは.

From 8A.M. to 11A.M. : 午前8時から午前11時まで . ごぜん8じからごぜん11じまで

We will now see a last sentence where the particle から can also express the starting point in the sense of « the raw material / the thing that served as a basis » to make / create something. For example :

私はお酒米から造る。
わたしはおさけこめからつくる。
I make sake from rice.

私は杉の木から人形を作る。
わたしはすぎのきからにんぎょうをつくる。
I make puppets from cedar wood.

We will see other uses of から and まで, much later, including how we can combine them with other particles and even create adverbs. We will focus more on から which helps express the cause... but for now, I will not go into more detail, we’ll see all of these new uses as and when the time is right.

With these two new particles, I can tell you that we just saw a total of ten particles of the Japanese language. So, let’s me congratulate you. Yes, congratulation! Well, I guess you have been working hard so far.

The next particle that we will see together is a very important particle of the Japanese language and one of the most used which I reserve you the surprise for the next time. But more important, your exercises, as usual some theme and version ! No need to say more, you know the music.

And I leave you with a vocabulary list below and see you in the next course.

船 . ふね . the boat
晩 . バン . the night
働く . はたらく . to work (new verb)
授業 . ジュギョウ . the course, the class
祈る . いのる . to pray, to wish (new verb)
移り住む . うつりすむ . to change your place of residence, to migrate, to move (nou verb)
西瓜の種 . すいかのたね . the watermelon seeds
投げる . なげる . to throw; to give up, to lose (new verb)
お酒 . おさけ . the sake
造る / 作る . つくる . to create, to manufacture (new verb)
杉 . すぎ . the cedar
木 . き . the tree ; the wood
人形 . ニンギョウ . the doll, the puppet