I'm having trouble figuring out how to express vague amounts of time in Japanese, such as some number of months
or some number of hours
.
I want to use this in a context where the specific number is neither important nor known, but the factor of time passing/occurring is important. For example:
Some hours
later, he finished the test.Traveling to and staying in another country requires
some number of months
free.
Answer
Two constructions spring to mind here.
数{すう} can be used in place of a specific number, followed by a counter, to mean "some" / "a few" / "several" (it doesn't really make a distinction in this respect...).
数時間後、彼は試験を終わった。
This can be used in ways you might not expect:
数十秒 some tens of seconds
十数秒 ten-(and-some)-odd seconds (between 10 and 19)
二十数年 twenty-(and-some)-odd years
Alternatively, you can use 何 + counter + か.
他の国に滞在するなら、[何ヶ月]{なんかげつ}かは開いておかなければなりません。
The same kind of uses seen above for 数 also apply to 何.
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