から and てform

memo4ninja · 13 Nov 2013

Hi all !
I'm trying to understand the different uses of から (I read it can mean since or after when a て form verb is used).
My question is how to use it with the state です? How can I change ですto a て form with the same meaning ?

An example ; if I want to say "I cook by myself since I'm 20 years old", is the following sentence correct ?
私が二十歳でから一人で料理をする。

SomeCallMeChris · 13 Nov 2013

You don't need the で. I think it would be ２０歳から自分の料理をする. 一人 means 'alone', while 自分 means 'oneself'.
から can mean 'since' when used after any time expression, so you could also say something like ２０１０年から自分の料理をする.
てから is for something like 自分のアパートに引っ越してから、自分の料理をする。
I can't think of a case where you would use the ～てから grammar with copula forms (で or であって), since the copula generally remarks on states of being and てから generally remarks on happenings. If you want to say something changed state of being and use てから you would use なる, and you could say ２０歳なってから、自分の料理をする as well.

nekojita · 13 Nov 2013

I think it might be better to use しています (like 勉強しています vs 勉強する)as depending on context you could be misinterpreted as meaning to say "I'm going to cook for myself once I turn 20". Here are a couple of possibilities using 自炊 (じすい) which is a noun/suru verb meaning to cook for oneself.

２０歳の時から自炊をしています。
２０歳になってから自炊するようになった。

Glenn · 14 Nov 2013

Ha, I think I was misunderstanding the question, 'cause I was thinking the answers were

二十歳になってから自分で料理している（料理するようになっている）。

OR

二十歳ですから自分で料理する。

Of course, the meanings and intents are pretty different.

memo4ninja · 14 Nov 2013

Ok, thanks ! 自炊する is sure easier ^^. '２０歳になって' does mean 'When I turned 20' ?

I have another question about から. I was looking at this website - Japanese Particles

A -te form verb followed by から and another phrase has two possible meanings. If what follows is an action, it means that the first phrase happens, and then the second does. In other words, the second phrase happens after the first. If what follows is a state or condition, it means that the condition has been true since the first phrase happened.
'学校が始まってから忙しいなぁ。'I sure have been been busy ever since school started.'

If I want to say 'Since I started cooking by myself, the food is not good', would that be correct ?
自炊になってから、食べ物は不味いですよ。or 自炊してから、食べ物は不味いですよ。

whereas this just means 'Because I cooked by myself, the food is not good.'
自炊したから、食べ物は不味いですよ。

Toritoribe · 14 Nov 2013

memo4ninja said:
If I want to say 'Since I started cooking by myself, the food is not good', would that be correct ?
自炊になってから、食べ物は不味いですよ。or 自炊してから、食べ物は不味いですよ。

I would say 自炊を始めてから、食事がおいしくない。

memo4ninja said:
whereas this just means 'Because I cooked by myself, the food is not good.'
自炊したから、食べ物は不味いですよ。

自炊 is used for a habit "to cook by oneself", so 自炊したから、おいしくない sounds a bit awkward for a specific case. 自分で料理したからおいしくない is more common.

から and てform

memo4ninja

後輩

SomeCallMeChris

先輩

nekojita

先輩

Glenn

一切皆苦

memo4ninja

後輩

Toritoribe

松葉解禁

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