means "the moment" or "no sooner than": the second event follows the first with no gap at all. It takes the dictionary form of the verb, even when the whole sentence is in the past. It is literary – novels, news writing, essays – and in conversation you would say
きごう〜 or
きごう〜.
、。
The moment the bell rang, the students rushed out of the classroom.
、。
The moment I opened the door, the cat dashed outside.
、。
No sooner had he sat down than he fell asleep.
The first sentence is in the past and still has .
The second half is a fact
The second half reports something that happened, or that happens every time. It cannot be your own plan, a request or an order, because や否や narrates events rather than arranging them.
、。
The moment he gets home, he turns on the TV.
- × 駅に着くや否や、電話してください → 駅に着いたらすぐ、電話してください
The two halves can have the same subject or different ones, as in the examples above.
や否や, なり and たとたん
is just as written and just as sudden, but both halves usually have the same subject, a third person.
takes the た-form and is the one you can say aloud; it often adds that the second event came as a surprise.
、。
As soon as he entered the room, he opened the window.
、。
The moment I stood up, I felt dizzy.
In writing, the is sometimes dropped and the bare does the same work: 、.
Lingaku