In the last lesson, we were talking about sticking ～中（ちゅう）onto nouns in order to say "in the middle of noun."

It reminded me of a word with a very similar usage:

途中
とちゅう
on the way; en route; in the middle of

I still remember when they first introduced this word to us during one of my Japanese classes way, way, way back when.

I didn't understand what the teacher was saying. And as a result, I felt uncomfortable using 途中 in my own sentences for years thereafter.

Hopefully I can spare you from a similar fate.

For this lesson, we are only going to be looking at 途中で (とちゅうで)... which takes on the meaning of "in the middle of" or "en route" (i.e. the same meaning listed above).

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Intro Grammar Goodness

で can be used as a particle, where it is somewhat similar to the Japanese equivalent to the English preposition "at."

Conversely, it can also be the te-form of the copula だ or です.

For example, I could say:

僕のお母さんは綺麗で優しい。
ぼく　の　おかあさん　は　きれい　で　やさしい。
My mother is pretty and kind.
Literally: "I + の + mother + は + pretty + で + kind."

We could also just have said:

僕のお母さんは綺麗です。
ぼく　の　おかあさん　は　きれい　です。
My mother is pretty.
Literally: "I + の + mother + は + pretty + です."

When we use で instead of です it acts as a connector for a compound sentence. In English, we just use "and," which is why the sentence above said "pretty and kind."

In Japanese, the last word of a sentence is almost always one of the following:
- a verb
- an i-adjective
- です or だ

There are also cases where we end a sentence with a na-adjective. For example, this is the casual version of the above sentence:

僕のお母さんは綺麗。
ぼく　の　おかあさん　は　きれい。
My mother is pretty.
Literally: "I + の + mother + は + pretty."

I like to imagine that there is an invisible だ after 綺麗 right there... I think because my Japanese teachers once told me that all casual sentences ending with a na-adjective must have だ at the end. As we just saw in the previous example, that is not true.

Anyways, this is my long-winded way of saying that when we have で in a sentence, in most cases it will have one of the following coming somewhere after it:

- a verb
- an i-adjective
- ですor だ

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Stop Confusing Me!

I'm sorry. I may have gotten a bit carried away with that grammar nonsense.

Today we're looking at 途中で.

If we have:

- In the middle of A, B happened.

Then the Japanese version would be:

- A 途中で B happened.

I write "B happened" and not just "B," because after 途中で, there will almost invariably be a verb. Partly because of all the annoying grammar gibberish above and partly because it just makes sense.

But explaining is draining.

Let's look at examples instead...

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旅行の途中でお腹を壊した。
りょこう　の　とちゅう　で　おなか　を　こわした。
I had stomach problems while on my trip.
Literally: "trip + の + in the middle of + で + stomach + を + broke."

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大事なテストの途中で眠ってしまった。
だいじな　テスト　の　とちゅう　で　ねむってしまった。
I (accidentally) fell asleep in the middle of a big test.
Literally: "important + test + の + in the middle of + で + fell asleep (accidentally)."

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買い物の途中でお母さんから電話が来た。
かいもの　の　とちゅう　で　おかあさん　から　でんわ　が　きた。
I got a call from my mother while I was shopping.
Literally: "shopping + の + in the middle of + で + mother + from + phone + が + came."

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シャワーを浴びてる途中でお湯が出なくなった。
シャワー　を　あびてる　とちゅう　で　おゆ　が　でなくなった。
The hot water suddenly went out while I was taking a shower.
Literally: "shower + を + am showering + in the middle of + で + hot water + が + not come out + became."

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帰ってる途中で部下に会った。
かえってる　とちゅう　で　ぶか　に　あった。
I ran into a coworker on my way home.
Literally: "returning home + in the middle of + で + subordinate (person) + に + met."
Note: I just wrote "coworker" for 部下 because saying "subordinate" would be weird and saying "my employee" makes it sound like the speaker is the owner of a company... but he's probably just a manager or something.

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待ち合わせ場所に向かってる途中で宝くじを買った。
まちあわせばしょ　に　むかってる　とちゅう　で　たからくじ　を　かった。
I bought a lottery ticket on my way to meet with everyone [with him / with them].
Literally: "meeting place + に + heading towards + in the middle of + で + lottery + を + bought."

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Did you notice all of those verbs coming after 途中で?!?!?!

途中で...壊した。
途中で...眠ってしまった。
途中で....来た。
途中で....出なくなった。
途中で...会った。
途中で...買った。

Also, since 途中 is a noun, it is always preceded by (A) particles or (B) plain-form verbs:

A:
旅行の途中で
テストの途中で
買い物の途中で

B:
浴びてる途中で
帰ってる途中で
向かってる途中で

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Dude! I can't read all of those kanji!

Yeah, sorry about that. But the kana are written up above in the lesson. And keeping those readings in your head for 10 -15 seconds while scrolling down a page is the first step to keeping them in your head for days, months, and years.

Good luck, fellow students. Hope I didn't tire out your brains too much with this one.

I know mine is tired...