ながら details
write + while doing
kaki nagara
while doing; at the same time as
meaning: while writing
歩きながらスマホを見るのは危ないよ。
aruki nagara sumaho o miru no wa abunai yo.
Looking at your phone while walking is dangerous. casual
音楽を聞きながら宿題をした。
ongaku o kiki nagara shukudai o shita.
I did my homework while listening to music. neutral
Examples
while doing — two actions by one subject running at the same time
歩きながらスマホを見るのは危ないよ。
arukinagara sumaho o miru no wa abunai yo.
Looking at your phone while walking is dangerous. casual
音楽を聞きながら宿題をした。
ongaku o kikinagara shukudai o shita.
I did my homework while listening to music. neutral
画面をご覧いただきながら、ご説明いたします。
gamen o goran itadakinagara, go setsumei itashimasu.
I will explain as you view the screen. formal
Formation
{V-masu-stem}ながらattaches to ます-stem
Notes
Related patterns
Similar
Both translate "while" — ながら keeps ONE subject doing two actions at once; あいだに opens an interval in which even a different subject can act.
Both hang two actions on one stretch of time — ながら runs exactly two, strictly at once, under one subject; たり〜たり samples an open, unordered list whose members merely take turns across the span.
Opposite
- ないでplain-antonym
Same adverbial slot, flipped polarity — ないで removes the side action from the scene, ながら runs it alongside the main verb.
Lookalikes
Both read as "while/with" — ながら pairs two ongoing ACTIONS; たまま freezes a state that persists unchanged through the main verb (電気をつけたまま).
Both bolt onto the masu-stem mid-word, but 読みながら opens a subordinate clause still waiting for its main verb, while 読み始める IS the main verb and can end the sentence on its own.