Word
そんな とき、 昔 の 同級生 から メッセージ が 来る と、 急 に 寂しさ が 消えて 笑って しまう。sonna toki, mukashi no doukyuusei kara messeeji ga kuru to, kyuu ni sabishisa ga kiete waratte shimau.
Meaning
At such times, when I get a message from an old classmate, my loneliness suddenly disappears and I end up laughing.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of sonna toki, mukashi no doukyuusei kara messeeji ga kuru to, kyuu ni sabishisa ga kiete waratte shimau.
がga
subject particle
のno
possessive case particle
とto
conditional particle
〜て〜te
connective form
Questions & Answers about sonna toki, mukashi no doukyuusei kara messeeji ga kuru to, kyuu ni sabishisa ga kiete waratte shimau.
What does そんなとき literally mean, and how is it different from そのとき?
そんなとき literally means “times like that” / “at such times.”
- そんな = “that kind of / such”
- とき = “time / moment”
So そんなとき refers to a type of situation that has just been described in the previous context (for example, “when I feel lonely” etc.).
そのとき is more like “at that (specific) time / at that moment.” It usually points to one particular moment, almost like pointing with your finger.
So:
- そんなとき → general type of situation: “When that kind of thing happens / at times like that.”
- そのとき → one concrete moment: “At that exact moment.”
Why is it 昔の同級生 and not 同級生の昔? How does this structure work?
昔の同級生 is a noun + の + noun pattern:
- 昔 = “the past / long ago”
- 同級生 = “classmate”
- 昔の同級生 = literally “classmate of the past” → “old classmate / former classmate.”
Here, 昔 is describing 同級生, so it goes before it with の.
同級生の昔 would literally be “the past of a classmate,” which doesn’t mean “old classmate” and sounds strange in this context.
So the pattern is:
- 昔の友だち = “an old friend” (friend from long ago)
- 高校の同級生 = “a high school classmate”
- 会社の同僚 = “a coworker from the company”
Always [descriptor] の [main noun], not the other way around.
