1

Below is a question from a past exam for Chinese university students in Japanese major:

この会社に来てから、今年（で／まで）5年になります。

The answer is で. I looked up 三省堂国語辞典 and this usage of で seems to be "ある点に達することをあらわす". My feeling is that using で maintains the probability of the speaker's continuing to work, while まで, which I read as "until", implicates the speaker has left this company or is going to do so.

I also performed a search in BCCWJ 中納言 for 今年まで. It yielded few results, which, however, seem pretty normal, one of them being:

非難するわけではありませんけれども、この間、さきの噴火から今年までここの砂防にかけた費用等々、総額はどのくらいになっているのかなと...

I feel a nuance here, but I'm not sure if I should take it as "まで = stop, で = continuation".

magni
  • 120
  • 7

1 Answers1

1

５年になります, which uses the verb なる, is an instantaneous change. 今年で means “this year”, which is an instant.

今年で５年になります。

(lit.) It will become 5 years (anniversary) this year.

It has been 5 years.

今年まで means “up till this year”, a period of time. The verb should mean something that continues for a duration (unlike なる). It can be used in, for instance,

今年までこの会社で働きます。

(lit.) I will work at this company till this year.

It has been 5 years since I started working at this company (sounds like the speaker is quitting).

sundowner
  • 27,620
  • 1
  • 16
  • 51
L. F.
  • 481
  • 1
  • 3
  • 12
  • I am not sure if my sentences are natural or make sense, so I would appreciate any guidance. – L. F. Nov 15 '22 at 12:34
  • I made changes to examples. I think you understand correctly the particles themselves, but the examples were not clarifying enough. (The original 経つ is instantaneous). – sundowner Nov 16 '22 at 01:00
  • @sundowner Thanks! – L. F. Nov 16 '22 at 01:27