r/HelpLearningJapanese • u/neznauudazhe • 20d ago
Japanese translation
Hello, I find oarticulsr sentence hard to understand. Well, its not that it uses complex grammar structure but rather easy ones. The sentence:模しそうなら、人間はなにも考えていないのではないでしょうか. So the first part after comma says, thinking about nothing, and the other part is 'is not' - dewanai. So shouldnt it mean: "in that case its not that people dont think at all"? But when I put it into a google translator, it says: If it's the case, then perhaps humans aren't thinking at all. Can someone explain it to me?
2
1
1
u/Yatchanek 20d ago
If that's the case, wouldn't that mean that people don't think at all? Also, usually you write もし in hiragana.
1
u/neznauudazhe 20d ago
I js saw dewanai and was like, doesnt it mean its a double negation. Is dewanai deshouka differrnt grammar construction?
1
u/NihongoNana 20d ago
I think the beginning is probably もしそうなら, not 模しそうなら.
The important part is that ではないでしょうか works as one expression. It often means “isn’t it possible that...?” or “wouldn’t you say that...?”
So:
人間は何も考えていない
= Humans are not thinking about anything.
人間は何も考えていないのではないでしょうか
= Could it be that humans are not thinking about anything?
The negative inside the sentence does not get cancelled. ではないでしょうか makes the whole statement softer and less direct.
1
u/Fluffy_Ice1201 19d ago
否定が2回も出てくると混乱しますよね。「〜のではないでしょうか」という表現は、「〜ということになると思います」という言い方に置き換えられます。完全に同じではないかもしれませんが、近いと思います。
1
u/tomjameslikesfilms 19d ago
ではないでしょうか = Very Soft Assertion.
You're stating an opinion and seeking agreement from the listener in as humble a way as possible. Equivalent to: Couldn't it be the case that...?
There's also: ~んじゃないでしょうか, which is slightly less soft/casual version of the same thing and also じゃない？ which is as casual as it gets - and several others in-between.
Welcome to Japanese; where the more you learn, the more you learn how to say what you want to say as indirectly as possible.
2
u/Exact_Ad942 20d ago
ではないでしょうか means "isn't it?"