15163
Last week I learned to use あいだ and あいだに to express things that happen at the
same time (are parallel) or things that happen while other are occurring. But
I noticed that all the examples on the book (みんなの日本語 - 中級１ - Lesson 8, pp. 82)
as well as the exercises and their answers use past tense, like this:

> 電車に乗っているあいだ、本を読んで **いた** 。
>
> 食事に出かけているあいだに、部屋にどろぼうが **入った** 。

As I understand, in this grammatical pattern あいだ is used sort of like a
"while". But can this be used to express things that are happening now or will
happen in the future, while others occur? For example, is this correct:

> あなたが映画を見ているあいだ、私は買い物に行きます。  
>  (While you watch the movie I will go shopping)
>
> みんなが遊んでいるあいだ、私は働いています。  
>  (I'm working while everyone is having fun)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-31T02:39:01.633
15162
2017-05-06T15:09:19.857
2017-05-06T15:09:19.857
9831
4604
question
grammar tense
can あいだ / あいだに be used with non-past tenses
> あなたが映画を見ているあいだ、私は買い物に行きます。  
>  みんなが遊んでいるあいだ、私は働いています。

Both sentences are perfectly standard. The structure あいだ(に), is indeed not
bound to being used with the past tense.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-03-31T03:00:52.673
15163
2014-03-31T03:06:46.130
2014-03-31T03:06:46.130
1628
1628
15162
answer