Grammar Info

N4 Lesson 8: 13/18

筈(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 + な + はず + が + ない
Noun + の + はず + が + ない

Details

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About はずがない

Like はず, coming from the kanji 筈(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 筈(はず), 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(かれ)の車(くるま)は高(たか)くないはずだ。
    His car would not be expensive. (His car is bound to not be that expensive)
  • 彼(かれ)の車(くるま)は高(たか)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

Examples

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    これだけの筈(はず)がない。

    It is highly unlikely that it is just this.

    それはあなたのカバンの筈(はず)がない。

    It is highly unlikely that that is your bag.

    夏(なつ)に雪(ゆき)が降(ふ)る筈(はず)がない。

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

    あのビルは古(ふる)すぎなので、病院(びょういん)の筈(はず)がない。

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

    こんな量(りょう)を一気(いっき)に食(た)べられる筈(はず)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

    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

    CroAniki

    Woah! This feels like secret back-end information (but it’s probably something I should’ve consolidated waaay before), thanks heaps!

  • 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.

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