5

The sentence is :　

まあ　何人来ようが　||　どうってこともないがな... (|| = Column break.)

It doesn't matter how many people want to come...

I'm not sure whether the first が is the subject particle (and if it can even be used right after a volitional form) or the clause ending particle...

The way I understand it the structure is "[How many people want to come] is not something that matters." Am I right?

Bonus point : I'm not sure whether the volitional form should be translated as "want to come" or "will come" (though, from what I know, most of the time だろう is used instead of ~おう to speak of the future).

Improve this question
0

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
6

The first が is not a subject particle. In combination with 「...う」 and/or 「まい」, it means "no matter", or "regardless of". Here is an excerpt from スーパー大辞林｛だいじりん｝:

(4)どんな事柄{ことがら}でもかまわない,の意｛い｝を表｛あらわ｝す｡｢…うが｣｢…まいが｣の形｛かたち｝をとる｡｢どうなろう―知｛し｝ったことではない｣｢行｛い｝こう―行｛い｝くまい―,君｛きみ｝の勝手｛かって｝だ｣

The first example can be translated to: "No matter how it becomes, I do not give a damn."

And the second one: "No matter you go or not, (I do not care). It's up to you."

More examples can be found here

Therefore the sentence you gave can be literally translated to "No matter how many people come, it does not matter."

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    As to your bonus point, My personal opinion yet to be verified by native speakers: The volitional form here does not intrinsically embed the meaning of "want to do" or "will do", although contexts may add the implicature. However, it can never refer to the past, that is, with this structure, you can not say "No matter she once loved him or not, I will marry her."
    – null
    Commented May 15, 2014 at 16:55

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .