Lost Sleep

[Aurura]

昨晩は夜の一時まで眠れなかったんだ。

My question is: Since 'sakuban' ( 昨晩 ) is already used to refer to "last night", why is tthe word 'yoru' ( 夜 ) for "night" still used in this sentence?
☝

Thanks,
- Aurura

 

[Aurura]

Oh! I think I just realized the answer! Go Me!:

"Yoru" is not referring to the "last night" part, but to the part about 1:00 at night when the speaker finally went to sleep? Am I right?

- Aurura

 

[Toritoribe]

夜[yoru]/朝[asa]/昼[hiru]の○時 is used like a kind of set phrase, e.g., 夜の11時 "11:00 pm," 朝の7時 "7:00 am," 昼の12時 "12:00 pm."

By th way, 昨晩 would be read as ゆうべ in this case, since 眠れなかったんだ is a colloquial expression. さくばん tends to be used in formal situation.
e.g.
昨晩、首相は退陣を表明しました。[Sakuban, shushou wa taijin o hyoumeishimashita.]
Last night, the prime minister announced the resignation of his cabinet.

 

[Glenn]

Heh, and I thought ゆうべ was only written as 夕べ. How about that.

 

[Toritoribe]

Of course, it's not wrong to read 昨晩 as さくばん. But 夕べ and 昨夜/昨晩 are often distinguished in use by the meaning.

夕べ: evening
昨夜/昨晩: last night

の意味 - goo国語辞書

「ゆうべ」の検索結果 - Yahoo!辞書

昨夜 would be more common for ゆうべ than 昨晩, as in the dictionaries, though.

 

[Glenn]

Interesting. I didn't know ゆうべ had those other meanings as well (particularly the "night that an event is held" meaning). Thanks for that!