Seeing, for exampe, **4月から** (or まで）in a text, how to tell if it means 'since
April' or '4 months ago' （respectively, 'until April' or 'after 4 months) ?

Similarly, how to tell if **4日から** (or まで） means 'since the 4th this month' or
'4 days ago' （respectively, 'until the 4th this month' or 'after 4 days)?
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time
In a text, how to tell the difference between a date (of the year) and days/months?
* [４ヶ月前]{よん・か・げつ・まえ}から ⇔ From 4 months ago
  * [４月]{し・がつ}から ⇔ From April
  * [４日前]{よっかまえ}から ⇔ From 4 days ago
  * [今月４日]{こんげつよっか}から ⇔ From the 4th of this month

Time interval for months is indicated by adding the character "ヶ” (pronounced
ka) before 月.

_The small ke (ヶ) is a Japanese character, typographically a small form of the
katakana character ケ ke. While identical in shape to a small ケ, the shape is
actually an abbreviation for the kanji 箇_ [more at [Wikipedia, Small
ke](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_ke) ]

Etymology: 箇/個/个 is a counter used sometimes in Chinese coming **_before_**
the object, but in Japanese is only used **_before_** the object for counting
months, and in other cases where it is used, it always comes **after** , e.g.,

  * Japanese [４ヶ月]{よん・か・げつ}, c.f. ４个月 (Simplified Ch.), ４個月 (Traditional Ch.) 
    * unique instance where Japanese borrows Chinese pre position 個 counter regular expression: 
    * **{number}{counter(noun)}{noun}**
  * Japanese [一人]{ひとり}, c.f. 一個人 (Traditional Ch.) or 一个人 (Simplified Ch.) - 
    * unique case (including [一人前]{いち・にん・まえ}) of native Japanese post position counter regular expression:
    * **{number}{counter(noun)}**
  * Japanese [一日間]{いち・にち・かん}, c.f. 一天 (Traditional+Simplified Ch. - no counter!) 
    * usual case of native Japanese post position counter regular expression:
    * **{noun}{number}{counter(noun)}**

_Note: I don't have a reference to show that the first two cases above
described as "unique" are actually unique. If someone knows a reference or a
counter example, please post._
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answer
These will almost always mean "since April/the 4th" (I can't think of an
example where they wouldn't).

>   * From 4 months ago → [４ヶ月前]{よん・か・げつ・まえ}から
>   * 4 months later → [４ヶ月後]{よん・か・げつ・ご}
>   * Since April → [4月]{し・がつ}から
>   * Until 4 months from now → [４ヶ月後]{よん・か・げつ・ご}まで
>

​

>   * From 4 days ago → [４日前]{よっか・まえ}から
>   * 4 days later → [４日後]{よっか・ご}
>   * Since the 4th of the month → [4日]{よっか}から
>   * Until 4 days from now → [4日後]{よっか・ご}まで
>
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