Grammar a Day - Level 1 [ まさか (masaka) ]

まさか (masaka) - incredible!

--- Examples ---
まさか来るとは思わなかった。
Did I ever expect you to come!

まさか!
Incredible !

びっくりした！まさかこんなところで会うとは思わなかったよ。
Oh my gosh! You're the last person I expected to meet in a situation like
this.

彼の言ったことはまさか本当であるとは思えない。
What he said can scarcely be true.

ロニーが日本語能力試験が合格したと聞いて先生つい「まさか」と言い出しました。
Teacher automatically uttered 'masaka' when he heard that Runny cleared the
test.

--- Comments ---
真逆 [まさか] (adv) (uk) by no means, (P)
まさか (adv) never!, well, I never!, you don't say!
Literally:
真 [ま] (n,pref) just, right, due (east), pure, genuine, true, (P)
逆 [ぎゃく] (adj-na,n) reverse, opposite, (P)
逆さ [さかさ] (n) reverse, inversion, upside down, (P)
In English: 'directly opposite'

(contributor: deweychetham)

まさか coupled with negative or denial expresses unexpected hypothetical
case. Synonimous with よもや or いくらなんでも.
(contributor: bamboo4)

V-plain + とは思う is used in most of the examples above - does that
deserve its own JGram entry? (contributor: yookoso)

I think using only まさか can have the connotation of 'no way'... the
'nai' is often left unsaid.

ex:
A: 彼がもう結婚しちゃったって
B: まさか(そういうことあるわけないだろう) (contributor:
nhk9)

I agree with nhk9さん、but i think that should be under the entry of
まさか／まさか〜ないだろう
which literally ' it can't be that 〜,right?'

まさか〜とは思わなかった　should deserve a different entry ,
since it literally means
'Didn't expect 〜(to be) ' (contributor: 誠)

I agree with yookosoさん, how does V-plain +とは思う differ from
V-plain +と思う/だと思う？ (contributor: xabre24)

Another phrase I like to use when translating まさか is 'Don't tell me
... !', though that doesn't work in every case.

And a まさか phrase that doesn't translate literally is
そのまさかだ！ (or the equivalent). Sometimes, when someone says,
for example, まさか、(insert unlikely/unwelcome situation
here)じゃないだろう？ (It COULDN'T be (situation), right?), the
response is そのまさかだ！ (It IS that (situation)!). Try
translating まさか itself directly in that case, and you're just asking
for trouble. (contributor: KWhazit)

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