4.3. MORE PARTICLES 187
the, in translation, different uses of this particle:
”(We)’re heading from Kyoto in the direction of Nara.””(I) work, starting at 6 o’ clock.””(I)’ll be a university student as of next month.””After (I) have done the laundry (I)’ll throw out the garbage.””Because (I) was late, (I) couldn’t take the exam.””Because Mr. Kurogane is a teacher, he can also explain (things)
well.”You may have noticed the difference between the -form + in
example sentence four, and the past tense + in example sentence
five. The first construction uses an open statement (an unfinished event
if we remember what stands for) that acts as point of origin for a new
event once finished, while the second uses a closed statement as a point
of origin for a reasoning. The easy way to remember this is that a form
isn’t a finished verb action, so no conclusions can be drawn from it, while
a
is for all intents and purposes done, and can be used for drawing
conclusions and commenting on.