もう少しで|もうすこしで
- 1Almost or nearly; the stated event or failure came close to happening but did not.Ex. 1
- 2Soon; an event or state is only a little time away.
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Neutral in register and used in speech and writing. It highlights a narrow margin in a near miss, or the short time remaining before something happens or begins. In near-miss sentences, ところだった or そうだった supplies the ending; もう少しで emphasizes how close the outcome was.
Note that a near-miss sentence with ない形 describes a failure that almost happened but did not.
Do not treat もう少しで as meaning that the near-miss event actually happened.
- ところだったN2「ところだった」attaches to a verb's dictionary form or ない form at the end of a sentence and clearly means something almost happened but did not; it can be used alone and often pairs with 「もう少しで」 or 「危うく」. It can also mean 'was just about to do something at that time', a usage 「もう少しで」 does not have.
- かけるN3「かける」attaches to a verb's ます form and is similar only in the 'almost happened' sense: 「死にかけた」 ≈ 「もう少しで死ぬところだった」, and it mostly attaches to non-volitional verbs. Its 'half-done' meaning is something 「もう少しで」 does not have.
- 〜るところだN3「〜るところだ」is a sentence-final pattern meaning an action is about to begin, while 「もう少しで」is an adverbial phrase emphasizing 'just barely missed'. They cannot be swapped and are often combined as 「もう少しで〜るところだった」 to mean something almost happened.
- たところN4「もう少しで」often pairs with 「辞書形＋ところだった」 to mean something almost happened but in fact did not; 「たところ」attaches to the た form and means an action has just been completed or introduces the result obtained after doing it, so the event has already happened — the two cannot be swapped.
もう少しで emphasizes the narrow margin, while ところだった marks an unrealized event; かける describes an action that began but was not completed. 〜るところだ means something is just about to happen, whereas たところ means something has just happened.
