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Formation: V-た form + かと思ったら／かと思うと／かと思えば; (meaning 'I thought X, but') plain form + かと思ったら

With a verb in the た-form, this pattern says that Y happened right after X, almost at once, and usually to the speaker's surprise: no sooner had the sky gone dark than it poured. It reports change that the speaker watched happen, so the main clause is usually in the past and cannot express the speaker's own will, a request or an order. It is also normally not used about the speaker's own actions. かと思うと can also describe quick back-and-forth changes, as in 泣いたかと思うと笑う (crying one moment and laughing the next). A second use, mostly with かと思ったら, means 'I thought X, but actually it wasn't so', and is close to the more formal 〜と思いきや. Compared with 〜たとたん, this pattern puts more stress on the observer's surprise at how fast things changed; 〜が早いか, 〜や否や and 〜なり are stiffer, more literary ways of saying 'the moment'.

Variants: かと思うと、かと思えば、V-たと思ったら

Examples

• 空が暗くなったかと思うと、激しい雨が降り出した。
  No sooner had the sky gone dark than it started pouring.
• 息子は帰ってきたかと思ったら、すぐまた出かけていった。
  My son had barely got home when he went out again.
• もう帰ったかと思ったら、まだ会社にいたのか。
  I thought you'd gone home, but you're still at the office?

In real texts 0 occurrence(s)

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