までに: By a Deadline (vs まで) | Japanese Grammar

まで and までに differ by a single kana, に, and yet they mean opposite things. まで is English "until" — the action runs continuously right up to the limit. までに is English "by" — the action happens once, at some unspecified point before the limit. Compare 五時まで待つ ("wait until five — keep waiting the whole time") with 五時までに帰る ("be home by five — arrive at some point before five"). Mixing these up doesn't produce a slightly-off sentence; it produces the wrong meaning, so this is one distinction worth drilling until it's automatic.

The good news is that English already draws exactly this line — it's the difference between until and by. The trap is that many English speakers use those two words loosely in casual speech, and that fuzziness transfers straight into wrong particles. Japanese will not let you be fuzzy.

The core split in one line

五時まで待つ。

goji made matsu

I'll wait until five (waiting continues right up to five).

五時までに帰る。

goji made ni kaeru

I'll be home by five (I get home at some point before five).

With まで, the whole span from now to five is filled with the action. With までに, the span is a window, and the action lands somewhere inside it — you don't say exactly when, only that it's done before the deadline slams shut.

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までに literally reads "up to (まで) + at a point (に)" — "at some point within the run-up to." That に is the same に that pins a single moment; here it pins one moment inside the まで window, not the edge of it.

まで: the action continues up to the limit

Use plain まで when the verb describes something that keeps going — waiting, staying, being open, being awake, working. The action and the span are the same length.

三時までここにいるね。

sanji made koko ni iru ne

I'll be here until three.

終わるまで待っててね。

owaru made mattete ne

Wait here until I'm finished.

昨日は夜中まで起きてた。

kinō wa yonaka made okiteta

I was up until the middle of the night yesterday.

雨がやむまで待とう。

ame ga yamu made matō

Let's wait until the rain stops.

銀行は三時まで開いてるよ。

ginkō wa sanji made aiteru yo

The bank's open until three.

Notice that まで happily attaches to a whole verb clause (終わるまで, 雨がやむまで, "until [something happens]"), not just a time word. In every case the state on the left lasts the entire way to that point.

までに: the action happens once, before the limit

Use までに when the verb describes a one-time completion or change — arriving, submitting, finishing, deciding, coming home, falling asleep. There's a single event, and the deadline is the wall it has to beat.

レポートは金曜までに出してください。

repōto wa kin'yō made ni dashite kudasai

Please hand in the report by Friday.

五時までに帰らないと、お母さんに怒られる。

goji made ni kaeranai to, okāsan ni okorareru

If I'm not home by five, Mom'll get mad.

来週までに決めます。

raishū made ni kimemasu

I'll decide by next week.

締め切りまでに間に合うかな。

shimekiri made ni ma ni au kana

I wonder if I'll make it by the deadline.

十二時までに寝たほうがいいよ。

jūniji made ni neta hō ga ii yo

You should be asleep by midnight.

出す（だす, hand in), 帰る（かえる, go home), 決める（きめる, decide), 寝る（ねる, fall asleep) — every one is a punctual, done-in-an-instant verb. You submit the report once; you don't "keep submitting" it up to Friday. That single-event quality is the signal for までに.

The verb test: durative vs punctual

Here's the reliable rule, and it's the whole point of this page. Look at the verb, not the clock.

If the verb keeps happening across the span — a state or ongoing activity — use まで.
If the verb happens once and is over — a completion or change — use までに.

Takes まで (continues → "until")	Takes までに (one event → "by")
待つ — wait	終わる／終える — finish
いる — be present, stay	出す・提出する — hand in, submit
働く — work	帰る・来る・着く — get home, come, arrive
住む — live, reside	決める — decide
開いている — be open	返す — give back
起きている — be awake	済ませる — get (something) done
続く — continue	寝る — fall asleep

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The one-question test: "Does this verb keep happening right up to the limit, or does it happen once before the limit?" Keeps happening → まで. Happens once → までに. You never have to memorise the deadline word; you just have to read the verb's aspect.

Put the two directly side by side and the split is obvious:

銀行は三時まで開いてる。

ginkō wa sanji made aiteru

The bank is open until three (it stays open the whole time).

三時までに銀行に行かないと。

sanji made ni ginkō ni ikanai to

I've got to get to the bank by three (arrive once, before it shuts).

Same clock, opposite particles — because 開いている is a lasting state and 行く is a single arrival.

までに with a verb clause: "before / by the time"

Because までに can sit on a whole clause, it also translates the English "before I …" or "by the time …" — the deadline is an event, not a clock reading.

日本を出るまでに、もう一度富士山を見たい。

Nihon o deru made ni, mō ichido Fujisan o mitai

Before I leave Japan, I want to see Mt. Fuji one more time.

Contrast that with the まで version, where the state fills the whole run-up:

子供が寝るまでテレビは消しておく。

kodomo ga neru made terebi wa keshite oku

I keep the TV off until the kids fall asleep.

出るまでに = "at some point before the leaving-event"; 寝るまで = "the whole time up to the falling-asleep event." Same clause-plus-particle machinery you already know, applied to events instead of times.

Register note

Both まで and までに are neutral and used at every level of formality, but までに is the backbone of business Japanese, where deadlines are everywhere. In formal writing and email it's completely standard.

ご返信は明日までにお願いいたします。

go-henshin wa ashita made ni onegai itashimasu

We would appreciate your reply by tomorrow. (formal)

Common Mistakes

1. Using まで for a deadline. This is the error, and it changes the meaning. 帰る is a one-time action, so 五時まで帰る tries to say "keep going home right up to five," which is nonsense — a native hears it as broken. For a deadline you must use までに.

❌ 五時まで帰ってください。

goji made kaette kudasai

Incorrect for 'be home by five' — 帰る is a single event, so it needs までに.

✅ 五時までに帰ってください。

goji made ni kaette kudasai

Please come home by five.

2. Using までに with a durative verb. You can't "by three, wait" — waiting fills the span, so it takes plain まで.

❌ 三時までに待ちます。

sanji made ni machimasu

Incorrect — 待つ is durative ('until'), so it takes まで, not までに.

✅ 三時まで待ちます。

sanji made machimasu

I'll wait until three.

3. Overusing までに on a continuing state. "Can't play" is a state that lasts up to the moment homework is done — that's a まで situation, not a deadline.

❌ 宿題が終わるまでに遊べない。

shukudai ga owaru made ni asobenai

Incorrect — the not-playing lasts the whole time until homework's done → まで.

✅ 宿題が終わるまで遊べない。

shukudai ga owaru made asobenai

I can't play until my homework's finished.

4. Dropping the に and flipping the meaning. Leaving off に on a deadline turns "hand it in by Friday" into "keep handing it in until Friday."

❌ 金曜まで出してください。

kin'yō made dashite kudasai

Incorrect for 'by Friday' — without に this says 'keep submitting until Friday.'

✅ 金曜までに出してください。

kin'yō made ni dashite kudasai

Please submit it by Friday.

Key Takeaways

まで = "until" (action continues up to the limit); までに = "by" (action happens once before the limit).
The deciding factor is the verb's aspect, not the time word: durative/state → まで (待つ, いる, 働く, 開いている); punctual/completion → までに (帰る, 出す, 終わる, 決める, 着く).
One-question test: keeps happening right up to the limit → まで; happens once before the limit → までに.
までに attaches to clauses too, giving "before / by the time" (出るまでに).
Translate the English preposition first — until → まで, by → までに — and the particle almost always falls out correctly.
For the から〜まで span and まで used spatially ("as far as"), see から and まで: from … until.

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