Lesson #100!

When did that happen?

Over three months ago, I just started sending these lessons on a whim. It seemed like the easiest, most straightforward way to impart knowledge about the Japanese language to fellow students living the struggle. I'm shocked I've kept at it this long.

I was just doing one lesson a day, then before I knew it I'd already written a hundred.

And that's today's lesson topic: Before I knew it!

Well, actually this is Part 3 of this lesson series, where we're looking at the copious uses of うち:

[NDL #96] - Home = I = Inside = While = Before?!
[NDL #97] - Home = I = Inside = While = Before?! 第２

But since it's #100, I thought that it deserved it's own unique title.

If you've been with us since Lesson #1, reading all of this crazy Japanese, then you've already seen over 1,000 different words! Well, 1,000 is just an estimate actually. In reality, it's probably quite a bit more. I know for certain that Lessons 01-30 had around 300 words, whereas 31-60 have over 500. *_*.

I'm always writing (and telling myself) that if we just stick to our studies, maintain consistency, and take it one step at a time, then we'll make progress. But even knowing that, it's hard to feel like we're making progress, you know?

Still, with a little patience, and a little faith, we inch our way forward. ThenKAPOW, we've studied 100 lessons! Take that, haters:

Now, fellow student, how do you think I would say this sentence in Japanese:

Before I knew it, I'd written 100 lessons!

I'll let you think about it.
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Take your time, now.
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To give you a quick hint, "100 lessons" will be レッスン１００個（レッスン　ひゃっこ）.
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Also, after レッスン１００個, we'll use the particle も, which often means "also," but in this case will mean something like "as many as" in the sense of "a lot."
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Also, the verb for "to write" is... 書く（かく）, and in this case we'll be using it in the past progressive, almost like saying "was writing." Do you know how to conjugate that?

It's...
Formal: 書いていました　（かいていました）
Informal: 書いていた　（かいていた）
Very Informal: 書いてた　（かいてた）

Though this can mean "was writing," here it's going to mean "had written." Japanese has no present/past perfect tense, which is what makes this possible.

Don't lose track. We're trying to say:

Before I knew it, I'd written 100 lessons!
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Here's your final hint. There are two common ways to form this expression. One will include the phrase いつの間に （ いつのまに / "before I realized; when the %*?!" ）and one will include the verb 気付く （ きづく / "to realize; to notice" ）, in the form 気付いたら （ きづいたら / "if I realized; when I noticed" ）.
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OK. Time's up! Did you come up with one of the following Japanese sentences?

Option #1:

いつの間にレッスン１００個も書いてた。
いつのまに　レッスン　ひゃっこ　も　かいてた。
Before I knew it, I'd written 100 lessons.

Literally: "before I knew it + lesson + 100 things + も + was writing / had been writing."
Note: いつの間に literally means "when + の + interval + に." Also 個（こ） is a counter for things. I initially learned that it's only for small things, but I hear Japanese people use it for (nonliving) things of all shapes and sizes. Also notice that the "k" at the beginning of こ / "ko" partially eats the く / "ku" in ひゃく / "hyaku" (=100) so that it melds into っこ / "kko," which gives us ひゃっこ / "hyakko," (=100 things).

Option #2:

気付いたらレッスン１００個も書いてた。
きづいたら　レッスン　ひゃっこ　も　かいてた。
Before I knew it, I'd written 100 lessons.

Literally: "before I knew it + lesson + 100 things + も + was writing / had been writing."
Note: 気付いたら （ きづいたら ）literally means "when I realized" or "once I'd noticed."

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Before I knew it = 気付いたら / いつの間に

Although this isn't supposed to be the topic of today's lesson, I'll give just a few more examples of these two constructions.

Sometimes, in an anime, some uber-speedy ninja-like character will do something (e.g. attack) so fast, no one even noticed he was doing it. Then the shocked onlooker can simply say:

いつの間に！
いつのまに！
When the %*&# (did he do that)?!

Or another cool one is this sentence that you can use when your cellphone (or some other item of yours) suddenly disappears:

いつの間に無くなってる。
いつのまに　なく　なってる。
It was just here a second ago.
Literally: "before I knew it + disappear."
Note: Technically, 無くなる （ なくなる ）means something like "is not (here) + become," which gets translated to "to disappear" or "to get lost."

If you're talking about a person instead of a thing, then all you need to do is use いなくなる instead of なくなる (that is, the negative of the verb いる instead of ある), like this:

いつの間にいなくなってる。
いつのまに　いなく　なってる。
He/She was just here a second ago.
Literally: "before I knew it + disappear."

気付いたら（きづいたら）and いつの間に（いつのまに）are almost the same, but いつの間に makes the speaker sound more surprised or shocked. That's why we used いつの間に for the phrase "He was just here a second ago," but I don't think 気付いたら fits too well with this English phrase, because it doesn't sound that shocked. Instead, we might use 気付いたら for a past-tense sentence, like this:

気付いたら無くなってた。
きづいたら　なく　なってた。
Before I knew it, it was gone.
Literally: "before I knew it + had disappeared."

気付いたらいなくなってた。
きづいたら　いなく　なってた。
Before I knew it, he/she was gone.
Literally: "before I knew it + had disappeared."

Annnnnd, I've written a totally different lesson than I was intending.

いつの間に！

We're supposed to be talking about うち, Niko, remember?!

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Before you know it = うちに

Consider these two sentences:

1) Before I knew it, I was fluent.
2) If you keep studying, you'll be fluent before you know it.

Above, talking about 気付いたら and いつの間に, we saw Japanese sentences for #1.

#2, however, can be said with 気付いたら、いつの間に、OR うちに.

Today, let's just look at saying #2 with うちに.

You may want to go back and look at Lesson #97 before moving on.

I'd also like to add that there seems to be at least some sort of connection to the fact that いつの間に contains the kanji 間. By itself, this reads as 間（あいだ）, and it means "an interval of time." Maybe we could rephrase that as "in a space of time." So... it sort of makes sense that うちに, "inside," can have similar uses. Or is that stretching it?

Anyways, one of my grammar books says that (for the usage of うちに) we're looking at right now:

～ うちに　＝　～ している間に　＝ before you know it

Makes sense... I guess.

The fancy grammatical way of explaining this grammar construction is (quoting from this book): Links to phrases of continuation; expresses notion that during period of continuation, some unforeseen change occurred. Clause following indicates change in condition.

Uh.... OK...

That's hurting my brain. Let's say it like this instead:

　Ａ　＋　うちに　＋　Ｂ　.
A happens, then before you know it, B happens!

Like this:

You're studying, then before you know it, you're good at Japanese!

勉強してる　うちに　上手になるよ。
べんきょう　してる　うちに　じょうず　に　なるよ。
Keep studying and you'll be good (at Japanese) before you know it.
Literally: "are studying + うちに + skilled + become + よ."

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Usually you'll see this うちに attaching to verbs in plain present or present progressive tense, like this:

Verb = 見る（みる / "to see; to look at"）

見る　＋　うちに
見ない　＋　うちに
見て（い）る　＋　うちに

It also attaches to nouns sometimes, with a の jammed in the middle, like this:

Noun = 一瞬（いっしゅん / "a moment; an instant"）

一瞬　＋　の　＋　うちに

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Before you know it, you'll be reading examples...

しばらく見ないうちに大きくなったね！
しばらく　みない　うちに　おおきく　なった　ね！
When did you get so big! // Look at how big you've gotten!
Literally: "a little while + don't look + うちに + big + became + ね."
Note: This is what relatives say to little kids they don't see often, usually in an evil attempt at making them feel awkward. Or at least, I never knew how to respond to this as a kid.

知らないうちに寝てた。
しらない　うちに　ねてた。
Before I knew it, I'd fallen asleep.
Literally: "don't know + うちに + was asleep."

一瞬のうちに無くなった。
いっしゅん　の　うちに　なくなった。
It was gone in an instant. // It was gone before I knew it.
Literally: "an instant + の + うちに + disappeared."
Note: I think this sentence is talking about my paycheck.

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Before you know it, this lesson will be over

Sorry. I'll stop with the lame jokes now.