0

会社の帰りに本屋に寄るのが楽しみです

Does this means on the way back to company or start from company, and back to some where else ?

And also why use after 帰り, what does that mean?

2
  • 本屋に寄る > 本屋を寄る. The latter is not grammatical.
    – user4032
    Mar 17, 2015 at 6:33
  • @l'électeur My mistake, corrected.
    – Eric
    Mar 17, 2015 at 7:02

2 Answers 2

1

Aの帰り means "on a way to my home from A", because 帰る not only means go back, but usually also mean go back to your home. 会社の帰りに本屋を寄るのが楽しみです means "I enjoy dropping by a bookstore on the way to go back my home from the company."

The equivalent word of に in English is "at". You use に in this case because you drop by a bookstore "at" the moment you are going back to your home.

3
  • 1
    To be more precise, it doesn't necessarily always imply going back home. For example if you are told 帰りにコーヒーをお願い by your co-workers on leaving the office, it should mean "get some coffee for us on your way back", with 帰りに simply meaning "on one's way back here".
    – isayamag
    Mar 17, 2015 at 8:48
  • 1
    @isayamag: 帰る usually has an implication of "return to a place you belong", so doesn't it usually only apply to either home or work?
    – jkerian
    Mar 17, 2015 at 10:26
  • @jkerian Well, suppose you are on a journey/trekking/quest/etc with your party, taking a rest at a campsite/lodge/magical_spring/anywhere, if you found something special on your way back to your party, you could bring it to them, saying 帰りにこんなものを見つけたよ. It's totally grammatical and natural. Basically, if you can say "on my way back" in English, I believe you could say 帰りに in Japanese too.
    – isayamag
    Mar 17, 2015 at 20:08
4

会社の帰りに usually means 会社から帰る時に, or 'on the way home (from the company)'.

帰り here is a noun meaning the way back or return, while 行【い】き means the opposite.

学校の行きと帰りに本を読む
To read a book on the way to and from school

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .