the japanese particle made is a very common particle in Japanese sentences. It usually establishes a sense of limit, be it temporal, spatial or quantitative (quantities).
In most Japanese texts, the particle made it has one or two meanings, since it expresses only the sense of limit. Therefore, its most common translations into Portuguese are “up until” or “to a certain extent“.
The Japanese MADE Particle
Another important fact about the particle made is that it can be used in conjunction with the japanese particle kara, which we know in the previous article, to indicate starting and ending points of time or space.
Read this article with furigana.
Indicating limits with the MADE particle
To use the Japanese particle made and perform the limit indication, just put the limiting expression before the particle made. It usually appears in the middle of sentences, after the subject/topic and before the object or verb of Japanese sentences.
Examples:
私は五時まで仕事をします。
I work until five o'clock.
この汽車は青森まで行きます。
This train goes to Aomori (Aomori is a city in northern Japan).
どこまでいらっしゃいますか。
Where are you going? (Literally: Where are you going? or How far are you going?)
奈良までの切符を二枚ください。
Two tickets to Nara, please. (Nara is a city in western Japan)
Combining KARA and MADE Particles in Japanese Sentences
Like the japanese particle kara usually indicates the origin or beginning of something, and the particle made indicates the limitation or the end, we can combine the two particles to express the beginning and end of anything. In these cases we can translate kara like inand made like up until.
As we have already mentioned, the idea of limitation can be spatial, temporal or quantitative.
Examples:
私は九時から六時まで仕事をします。
I work from nine to six.
彼女は朝から晩までスケートの練習をした。
She practices skating (trains with skateboard) from morning until night.
私は、うちから学校まで自転車で通っています。
I go from home to school by bicycle.
中間テストの犯囲は一課から四課までです。
The core content of the exam runs from Lesson One to Lesson Four.
Note that the particle kara appears before the particle made and this is a valid rule for most sentences.
Conclusion
It might seem kind of unbelievable, but the particle made has only one function: to indicate the temporal, spatial or quantitative limit of a sentence in Japanese. This turns the particle made in one of the easiest Japanese particles to learn.
またね！