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ウチが住んでるのに田舎だ

raikado

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Hello,

I've recently started reading Non Non Biyori for learning purposes and I found this sentence that I can't get my head around.

いやいや ウチが住んでるのに田舎なわけないじゃない？

The problem is the bolded part. I don't understand how のに and な（だ）work there. Could someone give me a literal translation please?
 
I'm not a hundred percent sure but here is a literal translation. Is the ウチ suppose to be うち house?

いやいや = reluctantly
うち住んでる = living in a house
のに = and yet, despite this...
田舎 = rural, country side
分けない = can't distinguish or can't separate etc.
じやない = don't you think?
 
I'm sure ウチ means 'we' here. And I think わけない is a contraction from わけがない. That sentence has been translated as 'No no...It's impossible that I live in such a remote place.' but it doesn't help me understand how のに makes sense here.

I think that the bolded part on it's own is ウチが住んでるのに田舎だ.
 
のに means even though or despite etc.
So if the sentence translates as you say it means

Even though we are living in this remote place, there is no way that I can believe it.
 
Even though I'm living here, there's no way I could consider this my hometown.
or
Even though I live here, how could I consider this place to be my hometown, right?
 
Pretty sure uchi means I here, I presume its a young girl saying this because usually when I read stuff its only girls saying uchi, but I might be wrong.

Even though this is where I live, there's no way this could be called my hometown

edit: woops didnt read posts above, looks like it was translated correctly already
 
ウチ here means "I" (= the speaker). In Kansai dialect a female calls herself "uchi".
She regards herself someone posh, so the place she's living cannot be a "countryside" (= it must be a city that is sophisticated, stylish, etc.); that is the idea in this context.

ウチが住んでるのに田舎だ (the place) is a countryside despite the fact that I (= someone sophisticated, posh, etc.) am living there
+ わけ(が)ない it cannot happen, it isn't / shouldn't be
 
As undrentide-san explained, わけ（が）ない denies the whole preceding clauses うちが住んでるのに田舎（だ）. In this case, ～のに "even though" performs the same function as ～んだから "because" as a result. See the following example.

地面が濡れてるのに晴れてるわけがない。 （＝ 地面が濡れてるんだから晴れてるわけがない。）
There is no way that "even though the ground is wet, it's fine". (= Because the ground is wet, there is no way it's fine.)

うちが住んでるのに田舎なわけない。 （＝ うちが住んでるんだから（ここが）田舎なわけない。）
There is no way that "even though I live here, this town is rural". (= Because I live here, there is no way this town is rural.)


Incidentally, うち can refer to "we/my family" in Standard Japanese. These two うち have different pitch accents.
 
I know inaka means countryside, but is it not possible for it to mean "hometown" here? I believe thats another secondary meaning, and that one makes alot more sense then Because I live here, theres no way this town is rural. That seems to not really make sense logically to say. But I am probably wrong, just curious as when it can mean "hometown" rather than "countryside"
 
田舎 can be used for hometown, but you cannot use it if your hometown is not a countryside.
And in this context it cannot refer to hometown.
 
The kanji 田舎 usually refers to rural area / countryside nowadays. いなか or ateji 故郷 is used for hometown.
 
Thank you everyone for your answers, especially to undrentide and Toritoribe.

I was actually wondering if わけがない applies only to what's after のに or to the whole sentence, because if it would apply only to what's after のに it would mean exactly the opposite (that she doesn't think of herself as being fashionable).

In the end I found a few examples that were translated as if it would apply to the whole sentence but I wasn't sure. So thank you for confirming that.
 
So does this sentence いやいや ウチが住んでるのに田舎なわけないじゃない, give the impression of the girl being very outgoing and gregarious, thus because of her personality, the atmosphere is not rural like? I cannot understand exactly what "Because I live here, there is no way this town is rural" is implying.
 
She's just kidding.

There is no way I live in rural area. / Just because I live here, this town is not rural.
 
I didn't know that wakenai was an abbreviation of wake ga nai. No wonder I was confused and said wakenai meant can't separate etc.
I checked my grammar book after reading the great comments here.
It mentions that it comes from 申し訳がありません and eventually gets shortened to wakenai. Thanks for the comments, no doubt now I will come across it more and more.
 
Last edited:
訳（わけ）of 訳がない means the way things are expected to be, while 申し訳 means an excuse. I'm afraid that the grammar book you referred does not give a correct explanation, 〜訳がない (which can be rephrased as はずがない) does not come from 申し訳ない.
訳 of 申し訳 is one of the usage of 訳 which has multiple meanings.
http://kotobank.jp/word/訳?dic=daijisen&oid=19794600
 

Thanks undrentidesan I will check out the link.
 
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