彼が通り過ぎようとしたとき、スフィンクスは彼の前に飛び出した。

he; him; his; boyfriend

indicates sentence subject (occasionally object); indicates possessive (esp. in literary expressions); but; however; still; and

to pass; to pass through

if; when; and; with; particle used for quoting (with speech, thoughts, etc.); quoting particle; promoted pawn; indicates question (sentence end)

to do; to cause to become; to make (into); to turn (into); to serve as; to act as; to work as; to wear (clothes, a facial expression, etc.); to judge as being; to view as being; to think of as; to treat as; to use as; to decide on; to choose; to be sensed (of a smell, noise, etc.); to be (in a state, condition, etc.); to be worth; to cost; to pass (of time); to elapse; verbalizing suffix (applies to nouns noted in this dictionary with the part of speech "vs"); creates a humble verb (after a noun prefixed with "o" or "go"); to be just about to; to be just starting to; to try to; to attempt to

regular (stops at every station) Jouetsu-line Shinkansen

sphinx

topic marker particle; indicates contrast with another option (stated or unstated); adds emphasis

indicates possessive; nominalizes verbs and adjectives; substitutes for "ga" in subordinate phrases; (at sentence-end, falling tone) indicates a confident conclusion; (at sentence-end) indicates emotional emphasis; (at sentence-end, rising tone) indicates question

ago; before (some event); previously; (minutes) to (the hour); in front (of); before (e.g. the house); head (of a line); front (e.g. of a bus); fore part; in the presence of; helping; portion; privates; private parts

at (place, time); in; on; during; to (direction, state); toward; into; for (purpose); because of (reason); for; with; by; from; as (i.e. in the role of); per; in; for; a (e.g. "once a month"); and; in addition to; if; although

to jump out; to rush out; to fly out; to appear (suddenly); to protrude; to project; to butt in