จนกว่า
Until an Endpoint
จนกว่า means until. Read the clause after it to find the endpoint, such as รถจะหยุด, the car stopping.
How It Works
Read The Endpoint
จนกว่า means until. In เราจะรออยู่ที่นี่จนกว่าคุณจะกลับมา, the waiting continues until the person returns. The endpoint is the event คุณจะกลับมา.
Follow The Complete Clause
The door instruction gives the car stopping as its endpoint. The water instruction gives boiling as its endpoint, and the work instruction gives finishing as its endpoint. All four examples contain จะ before the endpoint action; these examples teach that complete pattern.
Compare Other Endpoints
จน and จนถึง also occur in until-expressions. For example, จนถึงพรุ่งนี้ gives tomorrow as a time limit. Read the entire phrase to see whether it gives an event, a time, or a place. A single word does not establish the time of the whole account.
Examples (4)
- อย่าเปิดประตูจนกว่ารถจะหยุด
Do not open the door until the car stops.
Word by Word: Do not open door until car will stop
The instruction says to keep the door closed until the car stops. รถจะหยุด supplies that endpoint.
- เราจะรออยู่ที่นี่จนกว่าคุณจะกลับมา
We will wait here until you come back.
Word by Word: We will wait stay at here until you will return come
The sentence says the speakers will wait here until the listener returns.
- ต้มน้ำจนกว่าจะเดือด
Boil the water until it boils.
Word by Word: Boil water until will boil
The instruction names boiling as the endpoint of heating the water.
- คุณต้องทำงานจนกว่าจะเสร็จ
You must work until it is finished.
Word by Word: You must work until will finish
The completion of the work is the required condition for stopping the action.
How It Connects
Learn This First
To understand จนกว่า (Until - Future), you need to understand how Thai marks future or unrealized actions using จะ, as well as the base meaning of จน (until/to the point that) and the comparative marker กว่า which forms the compound.
- จะFuture and Intention
จนกว่า is used to mark a limit that has not been reached yet, and the following clause almost always uses จะ to indicate the future or hypothetical nature of that limit.
Level 1 - จนTo the Point That
จนกว่า is a specific temporal extension of the base word จน, which means 'to the point that' or 'until'.
Level 3 - กว่าMore than
The word กว่า is a component of จนกว่า and provides the sense of 'beyond' or 'more than' a certain point in time.
Level 2
Related Patterns
- จนกระทั่งUntil at Last
จนกระทั่ง also expresses an endpoint or a result. Compare the full clause rather than assigning a formality rank.
Level 3 - กว่าจะBy the Time
Compare the complete กว่าจะ construction with the until-clauses shown here.
Level 4 - ถึงReaching and Related Uses
จนถึง can introduce an endpoint such as a destination or a time; the examples here use จนกว่า before an event clause.
Level 1 - ไม่Not
ไม่ negates an action or state. Read its position within the complete clause; it is not an automatic template for every until-expression.
Level 1
Words in This Pattern
Practice จนกว่า in Bubblegum
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