Judgement and conjecture

~わけがない

there is no way that ~; cannot be ~

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How to form it

  • Verb / い-adjective (plain form) + わけがない
  • な-adjective + な + わけがない
  • Noun + の + わけがない

Register: Neutral; strong; spoken

Explanation

Says that something is impossible or cannot be true, as the speaker thinks it is unreasonable.

The tone is emphatic and may sound rude if used about a person. わけはない is also used. Compare はずがない, which is based on expectation.

Examples

  1. あんな簡単な試験に、落ちるわけがない。

    あんなかんたんなしけんに、おちるわけがない。

    There is no way I would fail an exam that easy.

  2. 彼が私に嘘をつくわけがない。

    かれがわたしにうそをつくわけがない。

    There is no way he would lie to me.

  3. こんなに高いものが、売れるわけがない。

    こんなにたかいものが、うれるわけがない。

    There is no way something this expensive would sell.

  4. 一日で全部覚えられるわけがないでしょう。

    いちにちでぜんぶおぼえられるわけがないでしょう。

    There is no way you could memorize it all in a day.

Compare with

  • ~はずがない: はずがない is based on grounds of expectation; わけがない is based on reasoning and is more emotional.
  • ~わけではない: わけではない partly denies a conclusion.

Common mistakes

  • Using it as a gentle refusal; it is a strong denial.