すぐ vs. もうすぐ: Native Speakers Often Use These

2018年10月15日2022年8月15日

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すぐ vs. もうすぐ: Native Speakers Often Use These

Some Japanese learners are quite complicated to use “すぐ(sugu)” and “もうすぐ(mōsugu)”, aren’ they? Because they are quite similar. And “すぐ” and “もうすぐ” are often used by native speakers. After reading this, you would be able to easily use them. Let me introduce how you easily use “すぐ” and “もうすぐ” today!

すぐ(sugu)

Right away / Immediately / Shortly / Quickly

“すぐ(sugu)” means “right away, immediately, shortly and quickly”. “すぐに” can be used all of the tenses which means “すぐ” is used for past, present and future tense, unlike “もうすぐ”. Time-wise, “すぐ” has been basically used for 1 sec to 5 minutes, of course, it depends on the people though. And the difference between “すぐ” and “すぐに” is that people use “すぐ” in emphasizing. Because when people can’t afford to do something, they tend to omit a word and に of すぐに in this case. So, when you talk to people in daily conversations as polite or write e-mails, you might want to use すぐに instead of “すぐ”. Lastly, when emphasizing “すぐ”, that would be “今いますぐ”.

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Sample

yuka

すぐ行いくね！ (I will leave immediately.) (马上去！) (바로 갈게!) (Tớ đi liền đây!) (sugu iku ne!)

tatsuya

すぐ忘わすれてしまう。笑わら (I forget so quickly. haha) (我一下就会忘了。哈哈哈。) (금방 잊어버려.(웃음)) (Tớ mau quên lắm (cười).) (sugu wasurete shimau. wara)

yuka

今いますぐやりなよ！ (Do it right now!) (还不赶紧去做！) (지금 바로 해야지!) (Cậu làm ngay đi nhé!) (imasugu yari na yo!)

tatsuya

すぐやるよー。 (I will do it right away.) (我马上就去做。) (곧 할게.) (Tớ làm liền đây!) (sugu yaru yo-.)

yuka

今いますぐやりなよ！ (Do it right now!) (还不赶紧去做！) (지금 바로 해야지!) (Cậu làm ngay đi nhé!) (ima sugu yari na yo!)

もうすぐ(mōsugu)

Soon

“もうすぐ(mōsugu)” means “soon” and which can’t be used for the past tense, unlike “すぐ”. Basically, もうすぐ is used as the future tense or present tense. For instance, “もうすぐ着つくよ。(I’ll be there soon.)” which is correct, however, “もうすぐ着ついたよ。(I was there soon.)” is wrong which is the past tense. Again すぐ can be used as the past tense such as “すぐ着ついたよ。(I immediately arrived there.)”. There are two points in using “もうすぐ”. The one is that it can’t be used for the past tense and the second is that time-wise is 5 minutes to 1 hour, although it depends on the people and by using these words: 行いく(go), 来くる(come), 着つく(arrive), 入いれる(put in), 入はいる(enter), 出でる(go out), etc. However, もうすぐ has been also used 2 or 3 weeks to 6 months or more. In this case, people could describe a long period of time by using もうすぐ such as 花はな(flowers), 季節きせつ(seasons), 人生じんせい(life) and etc.

Sample

tatsuya

もうすぐ着つくよ！ (I’ll be there soon.) (我快到咯！) ( 곧 도착할거야!)(Tớ sắp đến nơi rồi!) (mōsugu tsuku yo!)

yuka

バレンタインがもうすぐやって来くるねー。 (Valentine’s Day is coming soon.) (情人节就快到了。) (곧 있으면 발렌타인이네~.) (Sắp đến Valentine rồi nhỉ.) (barentain gamōsugu yatte kuru ne-.)

tatsuya

もうすぐ咲さくね。 (It will bloom soon.) (快开花呢。) (이제 곧 피겠네.) (Hoa sắp nở rồi.) (mōsugu saku ne.)

yuka

もうすぐ20歳にじゅっさいだよ！ (I’ll be turning 20 in a week.) (我很快就要20岁了！) (이제 곧 20살이야!) (Tớ sắp hai mươi tuổi rồi đấy!) (mōsugu ni jussai dayo!)