connective N2 uncommon writtenpolite

〜か〜ないかのうちに — no sooner had ~ than

〜か〜ないかのうちに・かないかのうちに

Meaning

no sooner had ~ than / had barely ~ when — the second event happens before the first one has even finished

Built by repeating the verb — once in dictionary form before か, once in ない-form before かのうちに — so it literally asks 'whether ~ or not-~' at the exact moment of the boundary. The picture is two events overlapping so tightly you can't tell if the first actually completed before the second began. It is more vivid and immediate than 〜たとたん, and belongs to narrative/written Japanese. Both clauses are past, observed facts: the second clause can't be a command, request, or the speaker's own plan.

Key sentence

ベルが鳴なるか鳴ならないかのうちに、生徒せいとたちは教室きょうしつを飛とび出だした。

No sooner had the bell rung than the students bolted out of the classroom.

Formation

Attaches to	Form	Example
Same verb twice: dictionary-form + か, then ない-form + かのうちに	Vる + か + Vない + かのうちに	着つく → 着つくか着つかないかのうちに

When: Narrative or reportive; describes something the speaker witnessed. The second clause states what then happened — not an instruction or intention.

Examples

彼かれは席せきに着つくか着つかないかのうちに、話はなし始はじめた。

He began talking almost before he'd even sat down.

「おやすみ」と言いうか言いわないかのうちに、子こどもは眠ねむってしまった。

No sooner had the child said 'goodnight' than she was fast asleep.

家いえを出でるか出でないかのうちに、雨あめが降ふり出だした。

I had barely stepped out of the house when it started to rain.

Easily confused with

〜た途端とたんた途端とたん marks the instant *after* the first action finishes (ドアを開あけた途端とたん); か〜ないかのうちに says the second event arrives *before the first even finishes* — an even tighter, more literary overlap. 〜や否いなや Both are literary 'the instant ~'. や否いなや takes one verb and stresses an immediate next step; か〜ないかのうちに repeats the verb to stress that you can't tell whether the first action completed at all. 〜かと思おもうとかと思おもうと adds the speaker's mild surprise that a *contrasting* thing follows; か〜ないかのうちに is purely about the razor-thin timing gap, with no contrast implied.

Notes

The repeated verb must be the same one (鳴なる→鳴ならない, 着つく→着つかない). It is a fixed frame — don't insert other material between the two halves.

See 〜か〜ないかのうちに in real sentences

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Sources Compiled from published Japanese grammar references.

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