Structure
Verb + (という) + わけだ
[い]Adjective + (という) + わけだ
[な]Adjective + な(1) + わけだ
Noun + の(1) + わけだ
(1) という
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About わけだ
One of the most misunderstood words in Japanese is 訳. Of the many ways it can be translated, the most common are 'reason', 'cause', 'meaning', or 'conclusion'. Despite this, it may be beneficial to consider it almost identical to an equally versatile English word 'so'.
In all of its uses, わけ simply highlights the plain existence/determination of something in the same way that 'so' does in English. This can be seen in its most basic form in わけだ. A combination of わけ and the auxiliary verb だ.
わけだ will be used at the end of sentences, and is sometimes preceded by という. This use is often translated as 'for the reason of (A)', 'no wonder its (A)', or 'its (A), as you'd expect'. Realistically though, it just means 'it is so that it's (A)', or 'so it's (A)'.
Due to わけ being a noun, it will need to follow the attributive form of whatever word comes before it. As we can see 'so' and わけ have an extremely close pattern of nuances, ranging from 'because', all the way through to simple emphasis (like with 'naturally', and 'as you'd expect').
わけ may also be used in questions, implying that the speaker is trying to determine something that they have heard. わけだね 'so its (A) right?', and わけですか 'so is it that (A)?' are good examples of this.
Antonyms
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Examples
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雪が降っていた。寒い訳だ。
It snowed. This is why it is cold.
また忘れたの?それで先生に叱られた訳だ。
You forgot again? No wonder you were scolded by the teacher.
夜更かししてばかりいるの?それじゃあ遅刻する訳だ。
Why do you keep staying up late? No wonder you are always late.
お金を無駄に使っている。貯金がない訳です。
You waste your money. No wonder you have no savings.
彼女は医者になりたいから、医学の勉強をする訳だ。
Since she wants to be a doctor, this is why she is studying in the medical field.
(as you'd expect)
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わけだ – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (7 in total)
mrnoone
English translation:
for that reason
no wonder
as you’d expectStructure:
Verb + (という) + わけだ
いAdj + (という) + わけだ
なAdj + な/だった/という + わけだ
Noun + の/だった/という + わけだView on Bunpro
seanblue
I need some help with this grammar point for Bunpro reviews. I understand the meaning of this grammar point perfectly fine when reading, but the English prompts just don’t click with me.
For example:
雪が降っていた。寒いわけだ。
The English prompt for this one was “as you would expect”. This just doesn’t scream 「わけだ」 to me. Any tips for this to help with reviews? Maybe I should just mark it as “known” since I understand it fine when reading and call it a day.
ulurujamman
To what extent can んです be used synonymously to this construction?
e.g.
彼女は医者になりたいから、医学の勉強をする わけだ
vs
彼女は医者になりたいから、医学を勉強するんです
cin27
maybe looking at the kanji (even though it isn’t used in this grammar form) would be helpful. according to jisho.org the kanji is “訳 【わけ】 conclusion from reasoning”
so in the example the english could be:
- It is snowing. One can conclude from reasoning that it is cold.
or
- It is snowing. As you would expect, it is cold.
Humin
The Dokkyo University link is 404’d.
As is the 日本語の森 link.Ambo100
There’s a six part series of videos on 訳 covering most of the uses and expressions it’s used in. The first video is for わけだ
Daru
Resources have been fixed.
Thank you for pointing it out!ddavo
This grammar point is also available on まるごと中級1, p. 200
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