Ways To Use “tsui sakki”, “saikin” and “kono goro”, “konnichi” and “sakkon”, “kono aida” and “senjitsu” Like Natives

Japanese has a surprisingly rich set of words for “recently” — and they are not interchangeable. From “just a minute ago” to “nowadays,” each word points to a different window of time and carries a different level of formality. In this article, we will break down all of them so you can use the right one naturally.

Yuka

Rei, I know さっき and 最近さいきん, but I keep seeing ついさっき, この間あいだ, 先日せんじつ… How many “recently” words are there?!

Rei

Quite a few! The key is to think about the time window and the formality level. ついさっき is just minutes ago. 最近さいきん and この頃ごろ cover the past few months. この間あいだ and 先日せんじつ are about a specific past event. And 今日こんにち and 昨今さっこん are formal “nowadays.”

At a Glance

ついさっき (tsui sakki) — Just Now / A Few Minutes Ago

ついさっき (tsui sakki) means something happened within the last 5–30 minutes, often with a sense of surprise or excitement. さっき without つい covers roughly 30 minutes to a few hours ago.

Yuka

ついさっき教室きょうしつで田中たなかくんにばったり会あったよ。 (I just ran into Tanaka-kun in the classroom a few minutes ago!)

Rei

ついさっき電車でんしゃの中なかでめっちゃかわいい子こをみたよ。 (I just saw a super cute girl on the train a few minutes ago.)

Yuka

さっきタクシーが事故じこしてたよ。 (A taxi had an accident a little while ago.)

最近さいきん / この頃ごろ (saikin / konogoro) — These Days / Lately

最近さいきん and この頃ごろ both describe a continuous period from the recent past up to now (roughly 3–4 months). 最近さいきん is more commonly used in daily conversation.

Yuka

最近さいきんは外食がいしょくすることが多おおいなー。 (I eat out a lot these days.)

Rei

最近さいきん、筋きんトレしてるよ。 (I have been working out lately.)

Rei

最近さいきんどう？ (How are you doing these days?)

Yuka

最近さいきん何なにしてましたか？ (What have you been up to lately?)

今日こんにち / 昨今さっこん (konnichi / sakkon) — Nowadays (Formal)

今日こんにち and 昨今さっこん mean “nowadays” but are formal phrases used in news, business, and speeches. Politicians and journalists prefer these to 最近さいきん.

Rei

今日こんにちでは、子供こどもを甘あまやかす親おやが多おおいですね。 (Nowadays, many parents spoil their children.)

Yuka

昨今さっこん、現代人げんだいじんはメタボ傾向けいこうにあります。 (Nowadays, people tend toward metabolic syndrome.)

この間あいだ / 先日せんじつ (kono aida / senjitsu) — The Other Day

Both words refer to a specific past event that happened a few weeks to months ago — not a continuing period. この間あいだ is casual; 先日せんじつ is formal and appropriate for business contexts.

Yuka

この間あいだ、彼氏かれしと映画館えいがかんに行いきました。 (The other day I went to the movies with my boyfriend.)

Rei

先日せんじつ、東京とうきょうに大雪おおゆきが降ふりました。 (It snowed heavily in Tokyo the other day.)

Quick Quiz

Fill in the blank

1. （　　　）スマホを落として画面が割れた。(Just a few minutes ago, I dropped my phone and cracked the screen)
2. 弊社の社長が（　　　）交代しました。（ご挨拶のメールで）(Our company president recently changed — business email context)
3. （　　　）は、スマホの利用者がどんどん増えています。(These days, smartphone users keep increasing — casual context)

Answers: 1. ついさっき / 2. 先日せんじつ / 3. 最近さいきん

The key to using these time expressions correctly is knowing two things: the time window and the formality level. For a specific past event in casual speech, use この間あいだ. For formal writing, use 先日せんじつ. For ongoing recent trends, use 最近さいきん. And for “just a few minutes ago,” nothing beats ついさっき!

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