Structure
まさか + Phrase
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About まさか
Almost always written purely in hiragana, まさか is a combination of まさ, a noun meaning 'precise', or 'exact', and the adverbial particle か. In modern Japanese, まさか is thought of as a single adverb meaning 'it can't be true', 'no way', or 'don't tell me'.
As it is treated primarily as an adverb, まさか will most often appear at the beginning of a sentence, before some statement about what the speaker is shocked/surprised about.
Fun Fact
まさ comes from 正, meaning 'precise' or 'actual'. However, this noun is very rarely used in modern Japanese. まさに is an adverb used to mean 'precisely', while まさか is another adverb used to mean 'no way!'. However, the literal meaning of まさか is closer to 'is it true?', or 'is it actually?', due to か's role in creating questions.
- 全然待っていないですよ。僕も今まさに着いたところです。I didn't wait at all. I actually just arrived now.
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まさかリアがフランスに帰るって本当なの?Is it actually true that Lia is going back to France?
Examples
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まさかこんなところで君に出会えるなんて⁉︎
I never dreamed I would meet you in a place like this!
まさかこの問題が出るなんて予想していませんでした。
I never would have thought that this problem (on a test) would come up.
まさかこんな賞をいただけるなんて、夢にも思いませんでした。
I never even dreamed that I would receive this prize.
まさかこんな大雪が降るなんて思わなかった。
I never dreamed it would snow this much.
最近羽振りがいいね。まさか…宝くじでも当たったの?
Recently, things really turned around for you. Hey...You don't say, did you win the lottery or something?
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Difference between まさか and まさに
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まさか – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (2 in total)
Anthropos888
Most example sentences are written in the form まさか + … + なんて + neg. verb.
What does なんて mean in this context? And if なんて and neg. verb are commonly used together with まさか you could note that in the structure.
mrnoone
In this case, it is used for emphasizing the feeling of surprise even more.
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