しばらく

しばらく means "for a while": a stretch of time that is not short, but has no set length. It goes in front of the verb like other words of time, and the stretch can be a few minutes or a few months.

In shops and on the phone you hear the polite しばらくおまち待ちください, "please wait a moment".

With a negative, しばらく says that something has not happened for some time.

With は, しばらくは looks forward: things stay this way for now, and you expect them to change later.

Usage notes

These go beyond "for a while" in front of a verb.

After a while

しばらくすると and しばらくして open a sentence: "after a while, …".

As a greeting

しばらくですね means "it's been a while". おひさしぶり久しぶりです is the more usual greeting, and among friends it is ひさしぶり久しぶり.