connective N2 uncommon politewritten

〜ところを — at a moment when ~ / catching one in the midst of ~

〜ところを・ところを

Meaning

at a moment/situation when ~ — marks the scene as the thing acted upon: either a polite 'when you're ~' apology, or 'caught right as one was ~ing'

ところ names a moment or situation, and を makes that scene the *object* of the next verb. Two everyday uses. (1) A set politeness frame acknowledging the listener's situation before imposing on it: お忙いそがしいところを、すみません ('sorry to trouble you when you're busy'). (2) Catching/interrupting someone mid-action: 逃にげようとするところを捕つかまえた ('caught him just as he was about to flee'). The shared idea is that the following verb lands *on* that moment.

Key sentence

お忙いそがしいところを、わざわざお越こしいただきありがとうございます。

Thank you for taking the trouble to come all this way when you're so busy.

Formation

Attaches to	Form	Example
Verb (plain) / i-adj / na-adj な / N の — naming the moment	V/A(plain) / Nの + ところを	お休やすみのところを / 逃にげるところを

When: Polite-spoken in the apology/greeting use (お〜のところを); narrative in the 'caught in the act' use. The second verb acts on the person or scene named.

Examples

お休やすみのところを、お電話でんわしてすみません。

Sorry to call while you're resting.

授業中じゅぎょうちゅうに居眠いねむりしているところを、先生せんせいに見みつかった。

I was caught by the teacher dozing off in the middle of class.

危あやういところを、彼かれに助たすけてもらった。

He saved me at a dangerous moment.

Easily confused with

〜ところに・〜ところへところに/へ marks the moment a new event *arrives* at (電話でんわがかかってきた — the event is intransitive, coming toward the scene); ところを makes the moment the *object* a transitive verb acts on (見みつかった・捕つかまえた — someone does something to that scene). 〜たところたところ = 'just (finished) ~ing', about completion timing; ところを frames a moment as the target of an action or imposition.

Notes

The polite お〜ところを、すみません/ありがとう frame is fixed and very common — learn it as a unit for apologies and thanks.

See 〜ところを in real sentences

Jengo shows 〜ところを the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.

Study it in Jengo

Sources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar.

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