Translated examples
九時から五時まで働きます。
I work from nine until five.
家から駅まで歩きます。
I walk from home to the station.
授業は十時からです。
Class starts at ten.
ここまで来てください。
Please come as far as here.
五時まで勉強します。
I will study until five.
五時までに宿題を出します。
I will submit the homework by five.
から marks a starting point and まで marks an endpoint. They work with times and places: 九時から五時まで, 家から駅まで. This lesson concerns boundaries; reason から and comparison より have different roles.
Formation and use
Either boundary can appear alone when the other is known: 九時からです, 駅まで歩きます. Do not add a に simply because the boundary contains a clock time.
In 家から駅まで歩きます, から marks departure and まで the endpoint of walking. A destination can also use に with movement verbs, but まで makes the boundary explicit.
Comparisons and common errors
まで and までに differ: 五時まで働きます is working until five; 五時までに出します is submitting by five. A continuous activity and a completion deadline are not the same.
A time span does not directly state its duration. 九時から十二時まで is a three-hour interval, while 三時間 states the duration itself. Keep the requested information clear in questions.
Practise with explanations
Try the 10 questions below, or open the practice set. Check each answer or the whole set, read the explanation, and retry mistakes. First-attempt results are kept separately on this device.
Connected lessons
Sources
Try what you have just read
Recognise the pattern, write an answer from memory, then use it in a short reading. Your existing progress carries over.
Open the three-step lessonRelated Grammar
Itsu, Nanji, and Nanyoubi: Ask About Time
いつ asks when in a broad sense. 何時 asks the clock time, and 何曜日 asks the day of the week. Practise with 10 explained questions.
Mae Ni and Ato De: Before and After an Action
前に and 後で locate one action relative to another. The verb attachment changes: 食べる前に but 食べた後で. Practise with 10 explained questions.
Kara for Reasons: Explain Why
Reason から follows a proposition and connects it to a result, decision, or request. In 雨ですから、行きません, rain is the reason for not going. Practise with 10 explained questions.