Grammar Info

N4 Lesson 8: 13/18

(はず)がないHardly possible, Cannot be, Highly unlikely, Improbable

Structure

Verb + はず + が + ない
[い]Adjective + はず + が + ない
[な]Adjective + + はず + が + ない
Noun + + はず + が + ない

Details

  • Standard

About はずがない

Like はず, coming from the kanji (はず), which suggests that something is 'bound' to be true, はずがない suggests that something is 'not bound' to be true. This expression is usually translated as 'hardly possible', 'improbable', or 'unlikely', but in reality, it is a bit weaker than these, and translates more literally to '(A) is not the only possibility'.

As はずがない (a combination of (はず), the case-marking particle , and the い-Adjective ない) is a phrase that starts with a noun, it may be used after any word that could usually connect with a noun.

Caution

There is a big difference in nuance between ないはず 'bound not to', and はずがない 'not bound to'. ないはず strongly negates the (A) statement, and expresses the speaker's opinion that it is almost definitely not true. はずがない on the other hand, simply suggests that (A) being almost 100% true is not the case.


Antonyms



Examples

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  • これだけ(はず)がない

    It is highly unlikely that it is just this.

  • それあなたカバン(はず)がない

    It is highly unlikely that that is your bag.

  • (なつ)(ゆき)()(はず)がない

    It is hardly possible for it to snow in the summer.

  • あのビル(ふる)すぎので病院(びょういん)(はず)がない

    Because that building is so old, it is hardly possible that it is a hospital.

  • こんな(りょう)一気(いっき)()られる(はず)がない

    It is hardly possible to eat this amount of food at once.

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はずがない – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (7 in total)

  • LotBlind

    LotBlind

    I gotta say, this article needs a clean-up. It flat-out seems to contradict itself. What it looks like it’s trying to say is the basic meaning is “A is not necessarily B”, but the translations keep expressing a noticeably more strong version of that. Like the following seem to contradict one another:

    "はずがない on the other hand, simply suggests that (A) being almost 100% true is not the case.

    • 彼の車は高いはずがない。

    It is hardly possible that his car is expensive. (That his car is bound to be expensive is not true)"

    “Hardly possible” is definitely not the same thing as “not necessarily”.

    Another thing is the first example sentence " これだけの筈がない。" marks it as a mistake if you leave out the の from the answer saying “You need a の between はず and a noun.” but neither これ or だけ is listed as a noun in Jisho at least, so some information seems to be missing there too.

  • kiyome

    kiyome

    Agreed that the description of this grammar point seems to contradict itself. With how it’s described I’d expect all the translations of “highly unlikely” to be too strong and just “unlikely” to be more accurate. The antonym and related grammar section uses an even stronger example of “There’s no way he’ll come” which sounds like basically a 100% chance of not being true. Granted, “There’s no way …” drops in certainty depending on how offhanded the comment is.

  • Nacall24

    Nacall24

    In this article is says ないはずだ is stronger that はずがない, but in A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar, it says the opposite. Which is stronger?

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