is the middle of a journey or an activity. 途中で says something happens partway through it, and 途中に says something is there along the way. A verb of going somewhere (
,
) is in the dictionary form; any other activity takes 〜ている, or a noun with
.
。
I ran into a friend on the way to school.
。
I fell asleep in the middle of watching the movie.
。
The phone rang in the middle of cooking.
。
There is a convenience store on the way to the station.
途中で or 途中に
で goes with an event: something happens, or someone does something. に goes with what is there, with and .
、。
I stopped at a convenience store on the way to the station.
、。
There's a convenience store on the way to the station.
- × 駅までの途中でコンビニがある → 駅までの途中にコンビニがある
For a stop along a journey, such as , you also hear 途中に: .
Activities take 〜ている
The dictionary form works for a journey: , . For anything else you are in the middle of, the verb takes 〜ている.
。
My computer broke in the middle of writing the report.
- × 本を読む途中で寝た → 本を読んでいる途中で寝た
途中で on its own
With nothing in front, 途中で means "partway", and with it is giving up before the end.
、。
It was boring, so I stopped reading partway through.
、。
I felt sick and left the meeting partway through.
Lingaku