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please help with grammar.

letslearn

先輩
11 Sep 2013
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The Alien transfer student has just finished introducing himself. 万寿ちゃん is sitting at his desk.
I'm having trouble with そんなわけあるかいな.
宇宙人の転校生をこっそり見たら、ぴくっりとも動かんと、黒板に向いてた。そんなわけあるかいな、私は小さくつぶやいた。
I can see he is secretly looking at the alien and then looking back at the black board. I don't know what he is murmuring about.
よろしくお願いします
 
It's more or less,
"Sneaking a look at the alien transfer student, I saw he was motionlessly facing the blackboard. 'Is this for real?' I muttered to myself."

I don't exactly know what he's muttering about either, but it's either simply being incredulous that there's an extraterrestrial transfer student, or it's being incredulous that said student is motionlessly facing (staring at?) the blackboard. Or both. Context should make it clear.

That is to say, the sentence you're asking about is a very general statement of disbelief that doesn't really specify exactly what is unbelievable.
 
It's more or less,
"Sneaking a look at the alien transfer student, I saw he was motionlessly facing the blackboard. 'Is this for real?' I muttered to myself."

I don't exactly know what he's muttering about either, but it's either simply being incredulous that there's an extraterrestrial transfer student, or it's being incredulous that said student is motionlessly facing (staring at?) the blackboard. Or both. Context should make it clear.

That is to say, the sentence you're asking about is a very general statement of disbelief that doesn't really specify exactly what is unbelievable.
thank you. so does そんなわけあるかいな. mean, is this for real? and what would the grammar be?
just adding a thought.
Is this わけ 訳 mean reason or circumstance? so そんなわけ、what kind of reason.
 
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Yeah, except そんなわけ is 'that kind of reason', not 'what kind of reason'.

In any case, そんなわけ is an expression that is a little skewed from normal use of 訳. そんなわけがあったか = "Is that how it is?" or "Is that what happened?"
そんなわけがあるか = "Is that possible?" or "How could that be possible?"

Your sentence is just a strong version of そんなわけがあるか
The かいな instead of か makes it completely clear that it's a rhetorical question expressing disbelief. かい and な are sentence ending particles on their own so the sense seems clear enough anyway, but the かいな combination does have its own dictionary entry on that exact point.

I see you keep wanting this to be a 'grammar' that you can understand, but honestly, it's just a slightly idiomatic usage of common words and grammar. Noting that かい is a rougher version of か is about as much of a grammar-point as there is here. It's a -very- common idiom though so well worth memorizing.
 
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Yeah, except そんなわけ is 'that kind of reason', not 'what kind of reason'.

In any case, そんなわけ is an expression that is a little skewed from normal use of 訳. そんなわけがあったか = "Is that how it is?" or "Is that what happened?"
そんなわけがあるか = "Is that possible?" or "How could that be possible?"

Your sentence is just a strong version of そんなわけがあるか
The かいな instead of か makes it completely clear that it's a rhetorical question expressing disbelief. かい and な are sentence ending particles on their own so the sense seems clear enough anyway, but the かいな combination does have its own dictionary entry on that exact point.

I see you keep wanting this to be a 'grammar' that you can understand, but honestly, it's just a slightly idiomatic usage of common words and grammar. Noting that かい is a rougher version of か is about as much of a grammar-point as there is here. It's a -very- common idiom though so well worth memorizing.
Thanks for the thorough explanation. I thought that かいな might have been a shortened version of a negation or something similar.
As mikesan says exposure exposure exposure.
Thanks heaps
 
Thanks for the thorough explanation. I thought that かいな might have been a shortened version of a negation or something similar.
As mikesan says exposure exposure exposure.
Thanks heaps
かいな is a Kansai dialect of か/かよ there. The one in the dictionary is a classical word, as in the example sentences. The speaker is a girl, so it's そんなわけあるはずないわ/そんなことあるわけないわ.
 
Ooops, I guess I had the write answer for the wrong reason. If I'd known the speaker was a girl I would've been confused because I thought it was masculine speech rather than local dialect. 勉強になりました。

Hmmm. And I'm not sure the EDICT entry doesn't refer to the kansai, the 大辞泉 seems to be defining something softer. The two are close though, so I'm not sure.
 
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