が早いか
“No sooner had … than … / The moment …” → Used to express that Action B happens immediately after Action A, emphasizing speed and suddenness, often with a sense of automatic reaction.
N1
Meaning
“No sooner had … than … / The moment …” → Used to express that Action B happens immediately after Action A, emphasizing speed and suddenness, often with a sense of automatic reaction.
Formation
Verb (dictionary form) + が早いか
Explanation
が早いか is used when the speaker wants to show that:
Action A occurs
Immediately, Action B follows
There is virtually no time gap
The focus is on how fast the second action happens after the first.
It often implies that the reaction is instinctive or inevitable, not carefully planned.
This grammar appears mainly in:
written narratives
descriptive reports
novels
JLPT N1 reading passages
It sounds unnatural in everyday conversation.
💡 Core nuance:
“The instant X happened, Y followed almost automatically.”