時々

Usage

時々 (ときどき) is ‘sometimes, now and then’. It is 時 (とき) ‘time’ doubled: the mark 々 repeats the previous kanji, and the second とき voices to どき (rendaku). It is an adverb, placed before the verb and usually after the topic: 私は時々映画を見ます. It does not normally take の before a noun: ‘occasional rain’ in a forecast is 時々雨, not ×時々の雨.

On the frequency scale: いつも always → よく often → 時々 sometimes → たまに occasionally → あまり…ない not much → 全然…ない never. Weather forecasts use it between two conditions: 晴れ時々曇り ‘sunny, occasionally cloudy’.

Examples

• 時々映画を見ます。（ときどき えいが を みます）— I sometimes watch movies.
• 週末は時々友達と出かけます。（しゅうまつ は ときどき ともだち と でかけます）— On weekends I sometimes go out with friends.
• 父は時々料理をします。（ちち は ときどき りょうり を します）— My father sometimes cooks.
• 今日は晴れ時々曇りです。（きょう は はれ ときどき くもり です）— Today is sunny with occasional clouds.

Traps for Spanish, English and French speakers

• Rendaku: the repeated syllable is voiced, ときどき, never ×ときとき. The same happens in 人々 (ひとびと), 日々 (ひび) and 国々 (くにぐに). And 々 is not a kanji you can look up on its own: type ときどき, or おなじ, to get it.
• ‘A veces’ and ‘parfois’ can trail at the end of a sentence (‘voy al cine, a veces’); Japanese adverbs go before the verb. 時々映画を見ます, never ×映画を見ます時々.
• 時々 + negative is not ‘not often’: 時々見ません means ‘there are times I do not watch’. For ‘not often’ use あまり + negative (あまり見ません); ‘hardly ever’ is めったに + negative.