How to say "a few years in the future" / "a few years from now"

Question

I'd like to express the idea that maybe a few years from now things would work out better. But I can't figure out how that would be said in Japanese. I know that if it were past tense, it could be said like 数年前だったら or 何年か前だったら. What's the equivalent for the future?

Answer 1

One simple possibility is to use 数年後{すうねんご} (a few years from now / several years from now / several years later).

The prefix 数{すう}～ can be used to indicate an unspecified number of something which is more than two but still a relatively small number. For example, 数分{すうふん} (several minutes), 数人{すうにん} (several people), etc. The suffix ～後 refers to a point in time later than now and can be used with many time indicating counters such as 分, 時, etc. For example, 一週間後{いっしゅうかんご} (one week later/one week from now).