How do I say "until" in Esperanto?

Question

The difference that I am looking for is one that I use in German like this: bis einschließlich Freitag — "until, including, Friday". How is this handled in Esperanto? Until in English can be a bit imprecise — "until including Friday" or "until, but not including Friday".

Answer 1

As others have said, ĝis means a a period of time up to, but not surpassing an event:

Punkton de la spaco aŭ de la tempo, aŭ mezuron, kiun la ago atingas, sed ne transpasas aŭ preterpasas.

You may be looking for tra, or through:

Tempon, dum kiu daŭras iu ago, ekde ĝia komenciĝo.

"A time during which something continues some action, since its beginning."

So in your example, you can say mi restas ĝis vendredo to mean "I stay until and not including Friday." Or, mi restas tra vendredo to mean "I stay through Friday." Which isn't precisely the same as until and including but it's really close.

• http://www.simplavortaro.org/vorto/%C4%9Dis
• http://www.simplavortaro.org/vorto/tra

Answer 2

From Vortaro (among other definitons of the word):

ĝis
Prep., montranta la punkton, kiun la ago atingas, sed ne trans- aŭ preter-pasas
Preposition showing the point which an action attains, but not beyond.

Examples:

• Snow hides only until spring.
  neĝo kaŝas nur ĝis printempo.
• He sees only until the end of his nose.
  li vidas nur ĝis la pinto de sia nazo.
• She cried from morning until evening.
  ŝi ploradas de mateno ĝis vespero

Answer 3

"Ĝis" is a preposition like "until" that's used in just about the same way, and as far as I know, it does not include the second thing mentioned like you want it to. Something worth noting is that unlike "until", "ĝis" is also a casual way of saying goodbye.

Answer 4

According to PMEG the prepositional ĝis includes the end time. Some examples:

• Mi laboras ĉiutage de frua mateno ĝis malfrua vespero : I work at the late evening but not past it, i.e. not at night.
• Ili trinkis ĝis malfrue en la nokto : They stopped drinking before dawn.

Therefore

• Mi restas ĝis vendredo : I am still here on Friday, but I will leave before Saturday.

If you want to exclude the end time, you can use antaŭ:

• Ĝi devas esti preta antaŭ sabato : It must be ready before/done by Saturday.

PMEG emphasises, that even in case of an interval ĝis includes the end point.

• Ili loĝas en apartamentoj 101 ĝis 150 : They also live in the apartment no. 150.

If you need to emphasise, that the end point of the interval is included or excluded, say it:

• Ili loĝas en apartamentoj 101 ĝis 150 inkluzive/ekskluzive.

However in practice the need for excluding an end point is scant elsewhere than in mathematics and computer science, where one uses different expressions altogether.