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文法ぶんぽうGrammar Point

〜かと思うと just when / no sooner than: Meaning & Examples

ka to omou to · JLPT N3

JLPT N39 textsQuiz readyStudy card

〜かと思うと means “just when / no sooner than”. It is a JLPT N3 pattern: below are its construction, the nuances that trip learners up, and the sentences where real Japanese writers use it.

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一枚いちまいStudy card

A free one-page study card for 〜かと思うと (just when / no sooner than), JLPT N3: what it means, how it attaches, 3 example sentences with furigana, and the nuances that trip learners up. Read it right here, or take the PDF or PNG with you. We never ask for an email for this card.

The 〜かと思うと study card: one A4 page holding the pattern, its JLPT N3 meaning, the construction rules, 3 example sentences with furigana, and the nuance notes.
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How 〜かと思うと works

泣いたかと思うと、もう笑っていた is “No sooner had she started crying than she was laughing again.” Attach it to the plain past. The second half has to be something that already happened and caught you off guard. That is what rules out plans, requests and commands after it.

構文こうぶんConstruction

  • Verb (plain past) + かと思うと

    席に着いたかと思うと、すぐに立ち上がった。 — He’d barely sat down before he was up again.

  • Variants: 〜かと思えば ・ 〜かと思ったら

    晴れたかと思ったら、また降り出した。 — Just when it cleared up, it started raining again.

  • Often paired with もう or すぐに in the second clause

    横になったかと思うと、もう眠っていた。 — He was asleep almost the moment he lay down.

例文れいぶんIn a sentence

No sooner had she started crying than she was laughing again.
Just when it cleared up, it started raining again.
He was asleep almost the moment he lay down.

注意点ちゅういてんNuances

  • ×帰ったかと思うと、電話してください is impossible — no requests, no plans, no intentions.
  • The subject is normally someone or something other than you, because your own actions rarely surprise you. ×私は座ったかと思うと立った reads strangely.
  • 〜かと思ったら is the everyday spoken variant with the same meaning and less formality; 〜かと思えば often adds a note of “and yet”.
  • Its natural habitat is weather, moods, small children and anything else that changes faster than you can follow.
How 〜かと思おもうと differs from similar patterns
  • 〜たとたん — 〜たとたん is a neutral “the instant that”; 〜かと思おもうと adds the speaker’s surprise at how quickly the second thing followed.
  • 〜が早はやいか — 〜が早はやいか is the formal, literary way to say the same thing, and belongs to written narration rather than conversation.
  • 〜や否いなや（いなや） — 〜や否いなや is another written “the moment that”, stiffer again, and common in news and essays.

練習れんしゅうYour Turn

Tip

Describe a day of unpredictable weather and a friend in an unpredictable mood, using 〜かと思おもうと twice. Keep both second clauses in the past — that is the rule this pattern lives by.

〜かと思うと (just when / no sooner than) in real sentences

Each one is quoted from a published Japanese text in this library and links to the story it came from. Some use older spellings, or break off where the sentence carried on. They are transcribed exactly as their authors wrote them.

— from April Fool (N1)

— from The Lighthouse Ghost (N1)

— from The Witch in the Attic (N2)

— from The Suspicious Traveling Monk (N1)

確認かくにんSelf-check

Practise 〜かと思うと: fill in the blank

4 sentences taken from real Japanese texts, with the grammar removed. Pick what belongs in the gap.

Question 1 of 4

  1. 人間は何故この理屈がわからないblank、残念でたまりません

    Answer: かと思うと — from The Mushroom Meeting (N2)

  2. と云ったblank、そのままばったりと倒れてしまった。

    Answer: かと思うと — from The Petty Officer Who Disappeared in the Sky (N1)

  3. そう云うblank主膳は小柄を脱いて起ちあがり、いきなりお菊の右の手首を掴んで縁側に出て、その手を縁側に押しつけて中指を斬り落した。

    Answer: かと思うと — from The Plate Mansion (N1)

  4. 段々を二つ三つ降りたblank、足をふみ辷らせたと見え、

    Answer: かと思うと — from The Terror of the Staircase (N1)

Read the texts these came from

Appears in 9 of 367 texts in our library.

蔵書ぞうしょThe texts

9 texts in the library use 〜かと思うと

Free to read in full. Furigana over every kanji, a dictionary on any word you tap, and an English breakdown of each sentence.

四月馬鹿 cover Read 四月馬鹿 April Fool 織田 作之助 79 min read · Short Story 怪しき旅僧 cover Read 怪しき旅僧 The Suspicious Traveling Monk 田中 貢太郎 18 min read · Short Story きのこ会議 cover Read きのこ会議 The Mushroom Meeting 夢野 久作 12 min read · Short Story 空中に消えた兵曹 cover Read 空中に消えた兵曹 The Petty Officer Who Disappeared in the Sky 田中 貢太郎 11 min read · Short Story 灯台鬼 cover Read 灯台鬼 The Lighthouse Ghost 大阪 圭吉 97 min read · Short Story 天井裏の妖婆 cover Read 天井裏の妖婆 The Witch in the Attic 田中 貢太郎 6 min read · Short Story 皿屋敷 cover Read 皿屋敷 The Plate Mansion 田中 貢太郎 14 min read · Short Story 段梯子の恐怖 cover Read 段梯子の恐怖 The Terror of the Staircase 小酒井 不木 9 min read · Short Story 一緒に歩く亡霊 cover Read 一緒に歩く亡霊 The Ghost That Walks Together 田中 貢太郎 25 min read · Short Story

解説かいせつBackground

Where this 〜かと思うと explanation comes from

〜かと思うと sits at JLPT N3 in the 302-point taxonomy every text in this library is tagged against. Each text is read for the patterns it contains, which is what lets this page list every text that uses 〜かと思うと and pull its example sentences out of them.

The example sentences were not written to demonstrate the rule. They are quoted from published Japanese texts in this library (April Fool and The Lighthouse Ghost among them), and each one links back to the story it came from, so you can read the sentence where it actually happened.

質問しつもんQuestions

〜かと思うと: questions & answers

What does 〜かと思うと mean?

It means “no sooner had… than…”. The first clause names something that has just happened, and the second reports what followed immediately and unexpectedly: 出て行ったかと思うと、すぐ戻ってきた.

Why can’t I use a request or a plan after 〜かと思うと?

Because the second clause reports something you observed happening, not something you intend. The pattern exists to express surprise at a completed event, so it only takes past, factual statements.

What is the difference between 〜かと思うと and 〜たとたん?

They both mean “the moment that”, but 〜たとたん is a neutral statement of timing while 〜かと思うと carries the speaker’s astonishment. Use とたん to report, かと思うと to react.

Is there a printable 〜かと思うと cheat sheet?

Yes. A free one-page 〜かと思うと (just when / no sooner than) study card sits at the top of this page, as both a PDF and a PNG. It carries the JLPT N3 meaning, how the pattern attaches, 3 example sentences with furigana, and the nuances learners get wrong. You do not need an account or an email address to download it.

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