"Before anyone stood up" を日本語に？

[BadPlayer]

I was trying to write something in Japanese for class today, when I realized I didn't know exactly how to say it... The phrase I'm trying to say it "Before anyone stood up" (or possibly "stands up" or "has stood up," depending on exactly how you phrase/state the sentence).

I feel like it could be said with 誰も, although I'm not sure if it would be "誰も立ち上がる前に" or "誰も立ち上がらない前に".

I'm also wondering if it could be expressed with まま. Could I say "誰も立ち上がらないまま" or "誰も座っていたまま", or something else like that?

よろしくお願いします！


(If anyone is wondering about context, I'm trying to write about a certain novel where in the final scene, four of the characters play a "game" where they each sit in a chair. One chair has a bomb and one chair has the detonator, although the characters don't know which chair is which. The detonator is set off by the person in its chair standing up. The full sentence would be "[Before anyone has stood up]、小説が終わります。")

 

[Michamichi]

I thought 誰か was anyone.

 

[nekojita]

Whether 誰か or 誰も or something else like 皆 is appropriate for "anyone" depends on the surrounding context (by itself, 誰か is more like "someone", in many cases).

I feel like this would work with the 〜ないうちに pattern. 誰も(が)立ち上がらないうちに... (second half should probably be past tense), but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[Michamichi]

Oh I see.

 

[Morphling]

"Before anyone stood up"を日本語に？

誰か is someone. 誰も is anyone and 皆 is everyone.

誰も立ち上がらないうちに
Before anybody stood up/while nobody stood up.

You can also say
誰かが立ち上がる前に
Before someone stood up.

 

[Toritoribe]

It depends on the context, as nekojita-san explained. (Especially, interrogative or negative sentences are a bit tricky.)
e.g.
誰かいませんか？ Is anyone here?
誰もが言葉を失った。 Everyone was at a loss for words.

誰も立ち上がらない間に / 誰かが立ち上がらないうちに / 誰かが立ち上がらない間に also works.

 

[Glenn]

If I'm remembering correctly, ～する前に is used when you know something is about to happen, and ～ないうちに can be used when you don't. I'm not sure if the 前 version can be used, here, but I'm leaning towards not, since it's not something knowable, like 日が暮れる前に.

I think 立ち上がらないまま probably works well too.

[Edit] Sniped.

 

[Toritoribe]

The point is that the example the OP gave is the past tense. The event already happened, so the writer/speaker knows the result anyway.

@ the OP, all the examples we gave here can mean "before anyone stood up", but the appropeate one is changed depending on the main clause.

 

[Morphling]

Well yes it doesn't quite map to English and would change depending on context as with everything in languages. I was simplifying it a bit too much.

 

[BadPlayer]

If I'm remembering correctly, ～する前に is used when you know something is about to happen, and ～ないうちに can be used when you don't.

Well, the characters presumably don't spend the rest of eternity just sitting in those chairs (Especially because there are two sequel novels!)

But we don't know who/when they'll stand up, so I see what you're saying. I hadn't even thought of the ～ないうちに construction.

Thanks for the replies, everyone! ありがとうございました！


EDIT: Actually, one last thing: would both 誰も立ち上がらないうちに and 誰かが立ち上がらないうちに work? (Morphling said the former and Toritoribe said the latter, so... just kinda curious.)

 

[Toritoribe]

Yes, those clauses work well depending on (the meaning of) the main clause, as I wrote in my previous post.