A : 会議は何時ごろ終わりますか？
B : もうしばらく____はずですが。1.終わり 2.終わる 3.終わった 4.終わらない
I've been pondering why the answer has to be 4.
Can anyone explain it to me please?
The correct answer should be #4 終わらない because しばらく means "for a while" and not "in a while / after a while" or "a while ago".
もうしばらく終わらないはずですが。
lit. I think it won't finish for a little while more."
→ "I think it will continue for a little while more."
To use #1, #2 and #3, you'd need to change the sentence this way:
1 → もうしばらくで終わりのはずですが。(adding の since 終わり is a noun form)
"I think it will finish in a little while more. / soon."
2 → もう しばらくで終わる / しばらくすれば終わる はずですが。
"I think it will finish in a little while more. / soon."
3 → もうしばらく前に終わったはずですが。
"I think it already finished a while ago." (The もう here means "already".)
answered Dec 18 '18 at 23:05
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1@Kiw You can say もうすぐ終わると思います cos 「(もう)すぐ」 is an adverb. (It's もうすぐ , not もうすく.) – Chocolate♦ Jan 21 '19 at 22:59
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Is もう an adverb, しばらか a noun so I have to use で ? I search しばらく in a dict. It shows that しばらく is an adverb too. I understand as you mentioned that もうしばらく is for a while. Thus I know that if I use もうしばらく終わる, it means “It’ll be over for a while”(After a while it will be starting again) Does もう+すぐ have any meaning of “for” as もう+しばらく have ? – Kiw Jan 25 '19 at 1:35
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1@Kiw (with or without もう,) しばらく can be an adverb meaning "for a while", eg 「しばらくお待ちください」"Please wait for a while." しばらく can also be a noun meaning "a while", but cannot be an adverb meaning "in a while". To say "in/after a while" or "soon", you say 「(もう)しばらくで終わる」or 「もうすぐ終わる」. (「すぐ」「もうすぐ 」 are adverbs meaning "very soon" "soon". 「すぐ終わる」「すぐに終わる」 would mean "will end very soon / quickly"). 「もうしばらく終わる」 doesn't really make sense. To say "It'll be over for a while (After a while it will be starting again)", I'd say しばらく休む. – Chocolate♦ Jan 25 '19 at 1:54
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2@Kiw 「[duration]+で」 means "in/after~~". eg インスタントラーメンは3分でできる。Instant ramen cooks in 3 minutes. ５分で行きます。I will go in five minutes. (See this post), この本を３時間で読み終わった。 I finished reading this book in three hours. (See this post) – Chocolate♦ Jan 25 '19 at 16:13
