Help understanding this phrase

[pprendeville]

不是几个星期就来，是一个星期以后才回来。I can't get my head around this one. Seems to be something like "it's not that you'll be back in a few weeks but after a few weeks". The context the sentence is being used in is as follows (comes from Integrated Chinese): older brother leaving younger sister behind in foreign country and she is worried she has nobody with her. He's reassuring her he'll be back in a few weeks.

Probably shouldn't be trying to do a direct translation. I can't think of any equivalent in English for this although I know it's not a good idea to be doing this but for the purposes of understanding this one it would handy if there was something to relate it to.

[li3wei1]

"I won't away for weeks, but it will be at least one week"

Not sure if that's accurate.

[Tiana]

The sentence seems a bit unusual to me (probably due to my lack of exposure): 不是几个星期就来，是一个星期以后才回来。

If I could swap the position of 就 and 才, then I'd translate it as:

不是几个星期才来，是一个星期以后就回来。= I won't be away for several weeks. I'll be back (as soon as) after a week.

[Himin]

（Text from the Integrated Chinese）

……

王朋：不急，还有二十分钟呢。你怎么哭了呢？别哭，别哭。我一个月就回来了。

李友：什么“就”回来，你一个月以后“才”回来。(Just a month? <You mean> not until after a month.)

……

So there is conversation could be:

A：我一个星期就回来。

B：不是一个星期“就”回来，是一个星期“才”回来。

In the conversation, A think一个星期 might not quite a long time but B think it is a very long time for her.

I agree with Tiana, the sentence should be不是几个星期“才”回来，是一个星期以后“就”回来了. In a real conversation it is more likely to say 不用几个星期，我一个星期以后就回来了。

(It’s just my own opinion :-)

[abcdefg]

He's reassuring her he'll be back in a few weeks.

He's reassuring her he will be back in one week. (Sooner than she thought.)

[creamyhorror]

I'd read it as

不是几个星期后才回来，是一个星期后才回来。

I feel the original sentence is awkwardly phrased.

[Tiana]

So I'm not alone feeling that "不是几个星期就来，是一个星期以后才回来" is a bit unusual.

Pprendeville, would you mind telling us where you get the sentence from? This is just so that we can better help you.