Trying to get my head around the differences here.
I’m more of a visual person so trying represent it pictorally.
Please could someone check my understanding thanks
あいだに = “I became sleepy whilst driving for a whole hour”
うちに = “At a certain point, or several points, whilst driving for an hour I felt sleepy”
Have you ever considered becoming a professional artist?
As for your question, I am super sure you’ve got it but I’ll let someone smarter than me double confirm. I’ve seen a lot of users now use visuals when trying to comprehend time-related questions, perhaps it’s something we can better utilize in the future because I agree, it really does help paint the whole picture.
あいだに does not strictly imply that (B) occured for all of (A). Just that it was limited to occuring within that particular time frame. For example, 間に may also be used for physical things 夫婦の間に三人の子供がいる. (The kids aren’t all the parents have, but they are nobody else’s kids, so they cannot extend outside of that ‘space’)
うちに is similar but has more of a ‘taking advantage of that time’ feeling to it.
Easy… I thought, but not being able to find my old scribbly notes from long ago I looked up in “A Handbook of japanese gramar patterns for teachers and learners”, good book. Also, not as easy.
うちに
is used with expressions that indicate duration over an interval of time and means “while that state continues” or “within that period of time.”
～ているうちに
Means “while one is …ing.” Followed by an expression indication the occurence of an event or a change. V-ている is used more than V-る, but the poattern V-うちに is sometimes used.
～ている間に
Indicates a period of time in which a state/action continues, and a sentence that expresses an action or a situation within that time follows. The predicate of the following sentence is a verb, and forms that do not indicate duration, like する、…しはじめる、…になる、are used.
…To describe a past matter, …た間に is also used. When the agents of the first and second clauses are different … , it means the two persons acted in parallel at the same time.
私がてんぷらを揚げる間に、母はおひたしと酢の物とみそ汁まで作ってしまった。
While I was making tempura, my mother made boiled greens, a vinegared dish, and even miso soup.
So going back to your question, i’d say that in this case we are talking about a state change → becoming tired. Therefore 内に is the way to go I’d say. If you were to do something else whilst driving, such as your friend talking to you, then あいだに would be more suitable.
運転している間に友達に話しかかれた。
As a side note, as a vague memory from my notes. うちに conveys more of a urgency to do something within a “relative short” timespan, depending on the situation, OR, a lack of volition. In this case, you cant control our action of not becoming tired.
間に more of the opposite, not as urgent and more in control.
I appreciate the effort. I’ll be honest, I’m a bit confused at the moment. I’ll read the comments a few more times.
I think the nuance is not so much to do with time …
@Mannelito brought up a good point and one of the most important things to remember.
This relatively short time span, momentary actions, or things that occur without the speaker really noticing that they were happening is a big point of うち. あいだ usually feels much more intentional, and like it persists for a longer time.
For example,
‘While the commercials were on, I ran to grab a drink’. This could use either, but うち would be better if you want to make it sound like the event was short and urgent.
However,
‘While the commercials were on, I channel surfed to find something better’. Again this could use either, but あいだ would make it sound like you spent more time deliberately flicking between channels, trying to find what was best.
And both can be used with an on-going event that isn’t something you’re doing.
Unlike ながら? I was told to use ながら as “while I was A’ing, I was also B’ing” type pattern.
So stab no.2. My take on it is that あいだに involves two parallel actions of which volition is involved, i.e active decision to do something. うちに is the call to do something or something happens within a short time span that is not done by your own volition.
If looking at your picture,
Good point. I think the difference here is the limiter に where ながら would describe a continuing event たべながらあるきます / while I eat, i walk (not describing any limits for how long this goes on). あいだに and うちに describes a set situation or a limited event.
Similar in comparison as how に introduces limits in the following grammar points
thanks for you help chaps!
