Structure
Verb + はず + が + ない
[い]Adjective + はず + が + ない
[な]Adjective + な + はず + が + ない
Noun + の + はず + が + ない
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Standard
About はずがない
Like はず, coming from the kanji 筈, 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 筈, the case-marking particle が, 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 ないはずだ '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.
- 彼の車は高くないはずだ。His car would not be expensive. (His car is bound to not be that expensive)
-
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)
Synonyms
わけではない
It doesn't mean that, It is not the case, It's not like
Not studied yet
わけがない
There is no way, There is no reason, It is impossible, Cannot be
Not studied yet
ようがない・ようもない
There's no way to, It's impossible to
Not studied yet
ものか
Definitely not, Absolutely not, Impossible, Do you really think~?
Not studied yet
そうもない
Very unlikely to, Does not seem that, Does not appear that
Not studied yet
そうもない
Very unlikely to, Does not seem that, Does not appear that
Not studied yet
ことはない
There is no need to, Never happens
Not studied yet
Antonyms
Examples
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これだけの筈がない。
It is highly unlikely that it is just this.
それはあなたのカバンの筈がない。
It is highly unlikely that that is your bag.
夏に雪が降る筈がない。
It is hardly possible for it to snow in the summer.
あのビルは古すぎなので、病院の筈がない。
Because that building is so old, it is hardly possible that it is a hospital.
こんな量を一気に食べられる筈がないよ。
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 (5 in total)
Fuga
Hey @CroAniki !
When ない is used as to negate a verb, it is considered as a verb (食べない、飲まない), but when it is used as the negative conjugation of ある, it is considered as a い-adjective (寒くない、寒くはない、味がない).
There are several ways that you can see if the ない used is a verb or an adjective. If you can replace the ない with a ぬ, it is a verb. If it follows an adjective, は, が, or a も, it is an adjective!
I hope this helps!
CroAniki
Woah! This feels like secret back-end information (but it’s probably something I should’ve consolidated waaay before), thanks heaps!
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.
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