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Jim is at home, and it is currently 9:00. He has plans to meet up with a
friend later, and has to leave at 9:30 to be on time for it. He decides that,
during the half-hour of waiting, he'd get out his computer and work on some
stuff he needs to do.

After a while of working, he looks up at the clock, and... oh no! It's 9:45!
He's late!

He scrambles out the door and meets up with his friend--late, of course. As he
arrives, he wants to explain that he _lost track of time_ , causing him to be
late.

And then he remembers he's meeting with the friend that only speaks Japanese.

What expression could he use to convey the same thing as English phrase "lose
track of time", or equivalently mean that **more time passed than it felt
like**?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-26T20:21:06.923
34399
2016-05-27T07:31:25.807
9749
question
expressions
Expression for "lose track of time"
Most commonly, we would say:

「[時間]{じかん}がたつのを[忘]{わす}れちゃって。」（「～～ちゃって」＝「～～てしまって」）

「時間を忘れちゃって。」

「時間の[感覚]{かんかく}がわからなくなっちゃって。」

Since Jim is talking to a friend, I used the informal form 「ちゃって」. He could
add 「パソコン（を）いじってたら」 in front of each phrase above.

I am sure you know you can end a sentence with 「ちゃって」 or 「しまって」 in casual
speech.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-27T01:21:41.610
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2016-05-27T01:49:30.603
2016-05-27T01:49:30.603
34399
answer
つい is what a textbook I have, _An integrated approach to intermediate
Japanese_ , used in a somewhat similar situation. I reckon it is often used
with V+込む, but I've heard it used as plainly as 「`<reason>`、つい。」 [1]

This is the context it was used in:

> ジェイソン  
>
> 「実は、アメリカの同じ大学からほかの大学に留学している友達と、街でばったり出会ったもんですから、喫茶店やレストランで話しているうちにどんどん時間が経っちゃって……。」
>
> お母さん  
>
> 「せっかく晩ご飯を作って待っているのに、帰ってきてくれないとがっかりしちゃうし、気にもなるしね。それに、夜遅くまで帰ってこないと、本当に心配になって、どうしても眠れないのよ。」
>
> ジェイソン  
>  「どうもすみません。電話しよう電話しようと思ってたんですけど、つい話し込んじゃって。」

Another example from the book:

> 話をしていて、つい時間を忘れてしまった。

* * *

[1] `<reason>` could be l'électeur's パソコンをいじってたら, for example.
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2016-05-27T07:19:29.617
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2016-05-27T07:31:25.807
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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answer