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N3

まさか

I never dreamed, Never, No way, Don't tell me, You don't say

まさか彼かれがキャプテンなんて。

Don't tell me that he is the captain!

Explanation

「まさか」 goes at the start of a sentence. A fact in front of you, news you hear or something you imagine goes against common sense and expectation, so you think 'no way'. Typical patterns: 「まさか〜とは思わなかった」 (I never imagined ...), 「まさか〜ないだろう」 (surely not ...), 「まさか〜のか」 (don't tell me ...?).

Mixed up with

In listening, a single 「まさか!」 expresses strong doubt and surprise at what was said: 'No way!'.

「まさか〜ないだろう」 looks like a guess, but the speaker really hopes it won't happen and is reassuring themselves: 'surely it won't ...'.

Examples

  1. まさかこんな大雪おおゆきが降ふるなんて思おもわなかった。

    I never dreamed it would snow this much.

  2. まさかリアがフランスに帰かえるって本当ほんとうなの?

    Don't tell me it's true that Lia is going back to France?

  3. まさかこんなところで君きみに出会であえるなんて!

    I never dreamed I would meet you in a place like this!

Tested 2 times in past papers

N2 · Dec 2021, Q33N2 · Dec 2017, Q35