ふと: Sudden/unexpected (adverbial) action!

Introduction

We're starting this chunk of lessons off with yet another fun and awesome adverb: ふと! But don't worry, this one is very different from the adverbs we've covered recently since it's very... sudden.

ふと: Aah! That was sudden!

構成こうせい

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  ふと(verb/verb phrase)
  Example:
  → それでふと思おもいだした。町まちを滅ほろぼしたのはバナナを持もった集団しゅうだんだった。
  "Then I suddenly remembered. It was a group holding bananas that destroyed the town.”

ふと is an adverb that indicates an action is done "unintentionally; quickly", or that something happens "unexpectedly". You can kinda see how this usage came to be by examining its kanji form: 不図ふと. This makes a lot of sense if you know the word 意図いと ("intentionally"), as well as the fact that the kanji 「図」 tends to be used to indicate a "plan" (or lack thereof).