から and まで: From and Until in Japanese

から (kara) and まで (made) form a natural pair for indicating a starting point and an ending point, in both space and time: “from... to...”.

In time: 九時から五時まで働く (くじからごじまではたらく / kuji kara goji made hataraku) “I work from nine to five”. In space: 東京から大阪まで (とうきょうからおおさかまで / Tōkyō kara Ōsaka made) “from Tokyo to Osaka”. They often appear together, but they do not have to: you can use only から or only まで.

から generally indicates the origin (“from”): a place, a time, or even a source (友だちから聞いた (ともだちからきいた / tomodachi kara kiita) “I heard it from a friend”). まで indicates the limit “up to, until”, the point beyond which one does not go. Do not confuse this with causal から “because”, which attaches to an entire clause.

Related particle lessons

• は vs が: Japanese Particles Wa and Ga Explained
• を, に and へ: Japanese Object and Destination Particles
• で vs に: Where to Use the Japanese Particle De
• と, も and の: Japanese Particles To, Mo and No
• から and まで: From and Until in Japanese
• よ and ね: Japanese Sentence-Ending Particles