Negative sentences with until

[Majid72]

Hello
Could you please tell me whether my interpretations from the following sentences are OK.

1- We didn't sleep until noon.(we slept until anytime before noon not later)
2- The ticket is not valid until March(it is valid up to March and not latter than it)
3- We didn't wait until the rain stopped.(we moved out when it was still raining.)

Thank you.

[Kitosdad]

[Icykhool]

1: We slept till noon
2: The ticket is valid till March
3: It is ok for me

[Expatcat]

If I am not mistaken, Majid is asking about his interpretations of the sentences, not the grammatical correctness of the statements themselves.

Majid,

Usually when "until" is used in a negative sentence construction, it means "before"

Your interpretation of #2 is incorrect. Your interpretation of #3 is correct. #1 is a little tricky.

1- We didn't sleep until noon.(we slept until anytime before noon not later)

There are two possible meanings for this sentence.

ex. a) We didn't [go to] sleep until noon. (meaning no sleeping took place before noon)
ex. b) We didn't [remain] sleep[ing] until noon. (meaning waking took place before noon)

With context, one would be able to tell the meaning, for instance:

ex. a) Joe says, "When did you go to sleep?" Majid answers, "We didn't sleep until noon."

ex. b) Joe says, "You two slept until noon!
Majid answers, "We didn't sleep until noon!

However, I believe example a is more common.

In the case of 2- The ticket is not valid until March(it is valid up to March and not latter than it)

This is a negative sentence. "Until" means "before", so the meaning is that the ticket does not become valid before March.

[Majid72]

Thank you very much everybody especially expatcat for your patience and time as well as your great help.