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Forums - Question about でしょう and きっと

Top > 日本語を勉強しましょう / Let's study Japanese! > Anything About Japanese



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elbatrofmoc
Level: 233

きっとるでしょう - It will certainly snow

I have a question about the above sentence I encountered somewhere - きっと translates as "certainly, surely" whereas でしょう is used, as far as I know, as "probably, it seems". Isn't it contradictory then to have both in one sentence?

0
11 days ago
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This question comes up so often that I have a cut-and-paste response.

not really, but I can see where you’re going.
きっと…でしょう is actually a fairly common pattern, and can be seen in sentences like: 今日の内にゴジラはるでしょう。 (Godzilla will definitely come sometime today.); 屹度彼も同じ様に思ったでしょう。 (Surely he too felt the same way.); and 彼は屹度戻ってこなくては行けないでしょう。 (I'm sure that he'll have to come back.)
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11 days ago
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むじな
Level: 417

You could argue it can be made to work even in English, in the sense that something "may be certain", i.e. you suppose it could be deduced from the situation that it's certain, but you yourself don't feel confident enough to affirm it.

Jus splitting hairs, don't mind me.

1
10 days ago
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Shamugan
Level: 561

でしょう is the (みぜんけい) of です.
Basically, the is the "before it happens" form. Or the "still not happened" form.
So the base meaning is not exactly "probably, it seems". It's more like a contextual meaning.

Anyway, in this case, more than "probably, it seems", it's like "right?". For example

るでしょう? -> Surely, you will come... right?
Or even: SURELY... you will come... right? (as in "Please don't change your mind at the last moment" or something like that)

It's like seeking a light confirmation after a strong assertion. It's not that uncommon even in English, I think. And it's really common in japanese. でしょう/だろう are really everywhere and often used to soften your tone (to be more polite, respectful, not too much assertive, etc).

6
18 hours ago
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elbatrofmoc
Level: 233

That explains it! Thanks!

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9 hours ago
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