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- "It is not necessarily weak."
"It is not necessarily weak."
Translation:弱くはないです。
30 Comments
440
I think it would be clearer in context. 「弱くはないです」 does not mean exactly "it's not weak," but rather something close to "weak is what it is not" or "I wouldn't say weak."
As in: "We're standing on a very weak bridge." "I wouldn't say weak [but it's far from sturdy]."
I think this would end up meaning "It is not necessarily that weak."
The addition of the "that" or 「そんなに」 implies a point of reference or comparison to how weak it may be. In other words, it conveys how weak something is, rather than if it is weak or not.
I think the difference is 弱くはない vs 弱くない. But it seems like it accepts both answers
It is the structure of the sentance. The は adds the necessarily in and without it then the sentance would just be 'It is not weak' Hioe this helped :)
Thank you! I skipped the は and got a correct answer anyway. Made me really confused, because I couldn't figure out where "necessarily" came in.
Yeah, wasn't sure about the necessarily so just translated the rest and got it right.
If I didn't come to these comments I wouldn't have a clue how to make it necessarily.
- 1111
よわくは = 弱くは = "as for the topic of [something] being NOT weak",
ないです="[it] is not".
So we cannot conclude that the implied object of discussion is "strong", per se, but it is safe to say that it is not NECESSARILY weak.
At the risk of sounding like Yoda, a much clearer translation would seem to be, "weak, it is not."
- 195
So, the added は adds the sense that topic is not the implicitly the opposite either. I'm guessing that the added "necessarily" in the translation is just best way that this concept can be represented in English.
I agree that "よわくはないです" = "Its' not necessarily weak" But why is "よわくないです" accepted as an answer !!!!
both mean the same, the first one is using contrastive は, the english word "necessarily" is a workaround to translate this contrast into english but は doesn't means that literally.
Sorry to say but this sounds to me like grammatical hair splitting - I would say that - without any other context - both sentences are more readily translated as "It's not weak" - and that a sentence with "必ずしも", "そんなに" or similar would be better to introduce the concept of "not necessarily" or "not that much".....
yeah sure, that's exactly what I think too. I was not defending the english translation, I was just explaining it.
When we write よわく instead of よわい, are we making a noun out of an adjective? If so, can I say; よわくが嫌いです?
you are making an adverbial form that sometimes is used as a noun of sorts, not really a noun but more like an adverbial noun. In those cases (where you need a noun out of an adjective) you want to use the ～さ form for i-adjectives like 弱さ which is the noun you are looking for to say「弱さが嫌い」"I hate weakness" or you can use a noun with the attribute 弱い like「弱い者が嫌い」"I hate weak people"
When は is used in this kind of sentence「弱くはない」you have to take into account that は as a particle is a contextual marker, is not part of the logical structure, so what you really are doing is literally placing a contrastive は in the middle of 弱くない in order to make a contrast between 弱く and other things that what you are describing is not. 「弱くは」"as for weak"「ない」"it's not" (but it is something else, implicitly stated by は).
- 658
Would something like, 弱くはある make sense then? Or is that grammatical construction gibberish?
I would think it would mean, "It is somewhat weak", admitting to the weakness, but softer than just saying 弱い.
Im atill learning but I think that would mean "It is not very weak." Instead of "It is not necessarily weak."
This sentence is sooooooo misleading: it is not necessarily weak!!!!!! IT??? I was able to understand this sentence in English, the IT and the necessarily, only after I saw the Japanese. You can't possibly expect someone at this point in their Japanese studies to understand the function of this WA. I know it because I used to expect it a long time ago and am just recapping. A more realistic, though seemingly awkward translation, would be: Weak it is not.
