Meaning & usage
のは～のことだ emphasizes the time at which an event takes place, took place, or will take place, equivalent to saying it was then that something happens. A plain clause nominalized with の comes before は, as in 買えるのは or 訪ねたのは, followed by a time expression plus のことだ. The ending can be のことだ, のことだった, or のことだろう, and のことだ is common even for a past time such as last Friday, so the final copula does not fix the event time. Time nouns often add ころ or とき for natural phrasing.
Example sentences 6
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私が家を買えるのはずっと先のことだろう。
It will be a long time before I can buy a house.
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私が彼を訪ねたのは、つい昨日のことだ。
It was only yesterday that I called on him.
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トムが初めてメアリーに会ったのは3年前のことだった。
Tom encountered Mary for the first time three years ago.
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私がレストランで彼女と食事をしたのは先週金曜日のことだ。
It was last Friday that I ate dinner with my girlfriend in a restaurant.
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人類が飢餓から解放されるのは、まだ先のことだ。
The time when mankind is free from hunger is yet to come.
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大地震が東京を破壊したのは１９２０年代のことだった。
It was in the 1920s that a big earthquake destroyed Tokyo.
