おきに | Grammar

Structure

[number + counter] + おきに

Description

おきに goes after a number and a counter and gives the gap between one time and the next: "every five minutes", "every three meters", "every other day".

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A bus comes every five minutes.

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Trees are planted every three meters.

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You should take a break every two hours.

Every other day, every other seat

With days, weeks, months and years, and with things you count one by one – seats, lines – おきに counts what is skipped. Skipping one day gives "every other day"; skipping two gives "every third day".

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I jog every other day.

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Please write on every other line.

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I go to the pool every third day.

一日おきに is not "every day"; that is まいにち毎日. With minutes, hours and distances there is nothing to skip, so the number is just the length of the gap: 二時間おきに is every two hours.

おきに or ごとに

counts each unit rather than the gap. With days and other calendar units the two come apart: 一日ごとに is "every day" or "day by day", 一日おきに is "every other day". With minutes, hours and distances they mean the same.

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It's getting warmer day by day.

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A bus comes every five minutes.

Examples

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A train comes every five minutes.

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Please take the medicine every other day.

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You should take a break every two hours.

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There are streetlights every ten meters along this road.

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The baby drinks milk every three hours.

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There is a meeting every other week.

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Please sit in every other seat.

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I stretch every thirty minutes.

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This bus departs every twenty minutes.

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A festival is held in this town every third year.

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I kept waking up every hour during the night.

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Water stations are set up every five kilometers.

References

Whenever 毎～～毎に～おきにimabi.org
おきにBunpro