～ないものか / ～ないものだろうか

How to form it

• Verb (potential ない-form) + ものか
• Verb (potential ない-form) + ものだろうか

Register: Neutral to written

Explanation

Expresses the speaker's strong wish for a solution to a difficult problem, in the form of a rhetorical question.

It looks like a question, but it is really a wish. The speaker feels the situation is hard to change but hopes it can be.

Examples

1. 何とか解決できないものか。

   なんとかかいけつできないものか。

   Isn't there some way to solve this?

2. もっと早く着く方法はないものだろうか。

   もっとはやくつくほうほうはないものだろうか。

   Isn't there a way to get there faster?

3. 彼の気持ちを変えられないものかと思っている。

   かれのきもちをかえられないものかとおもっている。

   I keep wondering whether there's a way to change his mind.

Compare with

• ～ものか: ものか is an emphatic denial; ないものか is a wish phrased as a question.

Common mistakes

• Treating it as a real question that expects an answer.