Constructions for "before" or "earlier"

[usagi]

Hi everyone,

When asking for a different appointment e.g. "could I sit this exam before Tuesday " which construction would be suitable?

Could I ask:
shiken wo uketai desu. demo, kinyoubi wa chotto.. youji ga arimasukara. kinyoubi yori sakini shiken wo uketemoiidesuka.

Likewise- what would the opposite construction i.e. later or after Tuesday be?

Obviously, since I am asking for a favour I would want to keep to formal. However, out of interest what would the informal version look like?

Thank you everyone. Take care and hope you are all studying hard

[Brody]

前　(mae) means "before." 後 (ato) means "after."

While I'm not certain about perfect construction, natural construction, etc. I think this might help out:

I think yori saki would mean "ahead."

I think you could say 火曜日の前に試験を受けてもいいですか。
kayoubi no mae ni shiken wo uketemo ii desu ka.
Remember, Tuesday is KAyoubi. You have Friday written down!

If you wanted to take it afterwards, try:

火曜日の後に/で試験を受けてもいいですか。
kayoubi no ato ni/de shiken wo ukete mo ii desu ka.

As I said, I'm not positive about everything but that will get the correct point across.

As for politeness, I think as long as you have desu at the end/ conjugate with masu forms, you'll be fine. There are ways to get super polite (using humble/honorific forms, adding the explanatory の, using が or けど, etc.) but those are all pretty advanced. I myself don't understand them fully.

I think a Japanese teacer would recognize you as a learner and know you are trying to be polite if you include desu/masu forms.

Informal would drop the desu and use dictionary forms instead of masu. So here basically you would drop the "desu ka" and just say the "ii" with a rising intonation. Also you could drop the "mo."

In essence, politeness levels seem to work as Peter suggests: you can say the exact same thing but the longer your sentence is, the more formal it is; the shorter, the more informal.

[usagi]

Thank you so much Brody-sensei!

I can´t type romaji to save my life- I try to avoid it at all costs. Sorry, about the typos (including kayoubi). I even had to look up how to write "youbi"!!!! Time to get Japanese installed

I tried an honorific construction as above with "ato" recently and unfortunately it got marked as incorrect.


Thanks again, great job.

Have a lovely weekend

P.S. I just remembered I could use shikashi to make it more formal too, right?

[Jason]

P.S. I just remembered I could use shikashi to make it more formal too, right?

しかし isn't neccesarily that much more formal, though maybe slightly. If you want a more formal "but", you can use けれども or ですが.

For "before" here, you could also use までに which means "by" as in "to do by (time)."
火曜日までに試験を受けてもいいですか。

This version is already pretty polite, but if you want more:
火曜日までに試験を受けてもよろしいのですか。

[Brody]

I can´t type romaji to save my life- I try to avoid it at all costs. Sorry, about the typos (including kayoubi). I even had to look up how to write "youbi"!!!! Time to get Japanese installed

Yeah, don't worry about the typos! Do get the Japanese installed ASAP. Romaji should be abandoned as quickly as possible. I think it is an unneeded crutch that can hurt you in the long run.

I just wanted to make sure you didn't ask to take the test by Friday when you meant Tuesday. I figured you probably knew it correctly, but still, if I had a dime for every time I've messed up days of the week...

[Bueller_007]

P.S. I just remembered I could use shikashi to make it more formal too, right?

しかし isn't neccesarily that much more formal, though maybe slightly. If you want a more formal "but", you can use けれども or ですが.

Yes, I've wondered about the level of politeness of all the numerous ways to say "but". There are a bunch more than the ones listed here.

Back before they stopped (and restarted) publication, Nihongo Journal had a section where you could send them letters in Japanese and they would correct you. I don't know if they still do that in the new NJ.

Anyway, one of the things that they corrected was the use of しかし in a letter to a friend for its inappropriate level of formality. They could have just been being hypercritical though.

[usagi]

Thanks everyone!

Some really interesting points here, I sometimes struggle with the appropriate phrases when writing to my "sensei". They all don´t seem to mind informal /semi-formal speech when addressing them, however, written work is a totally different story.


Here is what I´m trying to grasp this morning: I want to write that I gave my "sensei" a note 3 weeks ago. Not only is the correct "ago" something I´m struggling with but moreso the correct way to say "give".

Just recently, someone was told off for using the wrong "give" verbs. Depending on whether the receiver is socially ranked lower/higher the verbs seem to change. Furthermore, when writing this changes again!!!!


Ahhhhh, so much to learn

[Bueller_007]

Thanks everyone!

Some really interesting points here, I sometimes struggle with the appropriate phrases when writing to my "sensei". They all don´t seem to mind informal /semi-formal speech when addressing them, however, written work is a totally different story.


Here is what I´m trying to grasp this morning: I want to write that I gave my "sensei" a note 3 weeks ago. Not only is the correct "ago" something I´m struggling with but moreso the correct way to say "give".

Just recently, someone was told off for using the wrong "give" verbs. Depending on whether the receiver is socially ranked lower/higher the verbs seem to change. Furthermore, when writing this changes again!!!!


Ahhhhh, so much to learn

Japanese is quite a sensible language when it comes to time.
Three weeks ago = 三週間前（に）
Not so sensible when it comes to interpersonal relations.
To give something to a superior, you use 差し上げる.
三週間前に[先生に]書簡を差し上げました。(I gave [the teacher] a note three weeks ago.)

[usagi]

Bueller-san,

Just wanted to say thank you..... and yes, I am just starting to learn all those honorifc terms and verbs. You are right, it´s quite a handful but I´ll get there (hopefully???)


Have a great weekend!