2019年5月13日星期一

Relationship between time and 就要

So, I thought I had mastered this grammar pattern a long time ago but I just had a very awkward interaction that made me question whether there are some nuances I'm not aware of. I am temporarily living in Taiwan and every three months or so I have to go down to the immigration agency to apply for an extension on my residency permit. I am required to submit attendance records whenever I apply for an extension so whenever the deadline is around the corner I go to my school's office to ask them to prepare the necessary documents for me. Because I'm so used to doing this by now I just got straight to the point and said "禮拜五我的居留證就要過期了". Maybe the timeframe in question is too wide for 了 to be appropriate or maybe I spoke too quickly or unclearly. In any case, the person I was talking to asked me how long it had been expired for and I just didn't understand the question at all, and when I told them I didn't understand what they meant they got impatient and repeated the question in English but I still had no clue what they were trying to ask me until I realized the confusion and clarified that it had in fact not expired yet. They then started schooling me on grammar in a very condescending manner, telling me I have to say "快要過期" and considered my mistake so severe they completely switched over to English. Whatever, it's all in the game. But I want to be sure I understand what happened here, why didn't they understand that I meant to say my residency permit will expire on Friday? I feel the combination of 禮拜五 and 要 is enough context to make it clear I am talking about the coming Friday, and I used 就 to express that I think time is running out and need them to prepare the documents quickly if possible. Do I need to specifically say "下禮拜五" or drop the 了 for it to be totally unambiguous, or what?

Thanks in advance.

submitted by /u/WatashiWaLDesu
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Time-lapse: Beautiful cacti bloom before your eyes

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