～や否や
the instant that
～や否や（～やいなや）is a literary pattern made by attaching や否や to the dictionary form of a verb. It says that the moment the first action happened, the second followed with no gap at all.
In English it corresponds to “the instant that...” or “no sooner had... than...”. It is found mainly in written narration and news-style prose; in everyday speech, ～たとたん or ～とすぐに are far more common.
Immediate succession of two events
The clause before や否や names the trigger event. The main clause, almost always in the past tense, reports what happened immediately afterward.
ベルが鳴るや否や、生徒たちは教室を出た。
“The instant the bell rang, the students left the classroom.”
- ベル = bell
- が = subject marker
- 鳴る（なる）= to ring
- や否や（やいなや）= the instant that
- 生徒たち（せいとたち）= students
- は = topic marker
- 教室（きょうしつ）= classroom
- を = marks the place being exited
- 出た（でた）= left
駅に着くや否や、雨が降り出した。
“The instant I arrived at the station, it started to rain.”
- 駅（えき）= station
- に = destination marker
- 着く（つく）= to arrive
- や否や（やいなや）= the instant that
- 雨（あめ）= rain
- が = subject marker
- 降り出した（ふりだした）= started to fall
The very similar literary pattern ～が早いか stresses that the two actions were practically simultaneous, while ～や否や simply marks the first event as the instant trigger for the second.
How to form it
Verb dictionary form + や否や
- 鳴る（なる）= to ring → 鳴るや否や（なるやいなや）= the instant it rings/rang
- 着く（つく）= to arrive → 着くや否や（つくやいなや）= the instant (someone) arrives/arrived
- 見る（みる）= to see → 見るや否や（みるやいなや）= the instant (someone) sees/saw
Key idea
～や否や compresses two past events into a single breath: the first had barely happened when the second followed. Reach for it in written, narrative Japanese.
Other N1 grammar
Updated .