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I came upon the following sentence and its English translation in a collection
of parallel short stories in Japanese and English.

> あるとき、夜中にふと目が覚める。
>
> Sometimes, just like that, in the dead of night, I wake up.

What confuses me is the translation of あるとき as "sometimes". My dictionary
translates あるとき as "once; on one occasion; at one point" which would imply
that the sentence describes **one occurrence** of an event. In contrast, the
"sometimes" of the English translation implies **multiple occurrences**.

Can あるとき refer to multiple occurrences or is the translation somewhat removed
from the original sentence?
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2017-04-12T19:38:37.227
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2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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question
translation meaning
What does あるとき mean in this sentence?
In Japanese, there is [no grammatical
plural](http://www.japaneseprofessor.com/lessons/beginning/nouns-pronouns-and-
plurals/), so this とき can be singular ("one time", "certain time") or plural
("sometimes"). Depending on the overall context, both variants could work
here.
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As you have gathered, ある時{とき} should only refer to a single time. Sometimes
should be 時々{ときどき}, 時{とき}には or たまには. The sentence you provide would translate
to:

> One time, I just happen to wake up in the middle of the night.

This use of （と）ある can be seen elsewhere all in reference to singular entities,
such as とある人物{じんぶつ} (a certain person), ある日{ひ} (one day), ある団体{だんたい} (a
certain group).
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> あるとき、夜中{よなか}にふと目{め}が覚{さ}める。

I'm a Japanese. If Japanese use this phrase, such as in a book as a novelist,
the event could occur multiple times, because the phrase is written in a
present tense not in a past tense. And, if the phrase is written in a past
tense, the event occurred only once.

> 【An example of multiple times】  
>
> あるとき、夜中{よなか}にふと目{め}が覚{さ}める。なぜだろう。理由{りゆう}は分{わ}からないが、少{すく}なくとも彼{かれ}と別{わか}れる前{まえ}にはそんなことはなかった。このところ、こんなこと（＝夜中{よなか}にふと目{め}が覚{さ}めること）が度々{たびたび}ある。
>
> 【An example of single time】  
>
> あるとき、夜中｛よなか｝にふと目｛め｝が覚｛さ｝めた。頭｛あたま｝の中｛なか｝に何桁｛なんけた｝かの数字｛すうじ｝が残｛のこ｝っている。急｛いそ｝いで書｛か｝き留｛と｝めた。その時｛とき｝の数字｛すうじ｝を今｛いま｝こうして見｛み｝ている。いまだにこの数字｛すうじ｝が何｛なに｝を意味｛いみ｝するのか分｛わ｝からない。

I know the sentence 「頭{あたま}の中{なか}に何桁{なんけた}かの数字{すうじ}が残{の}こっている。」in the example
of single time should be written in a past tense in English, but in this
context, the sentence is more natural when written in a present tense than in
a past tense in Japanese.
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