6

In this Hinative question about the best way to translate the simple small-talk phrase "I hope you had a good weekend", two native Japanese speakers both reply with a "...ことと思います" pattern: 「いい週末だったことと思います。」「よい週末を過ごしたことと思います。」 (Although they also note that a question-form 「いい週末でしたか」 would also be natural.)

I can't find anything about a "...ことと思います" grammar pattern, and I'm racking my brain trying figure out why this pattern would equate to "I hope that..." in English. What does this pattern actually express? How else might I use it in Japanese?

Improve this question
2
  • 2
    There is no good way to “hope” that something already happened in Japanese.
    – aguijonazo
    Jun 7 at 19:01
  • 2
    I wonder if it's roughly equivalent to "I trust that you had a good weekend"
    – lc.
    Jun 8 at 4:14

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

ことと思います is one of the polite variants of ことだろう/ことでしょう. よい週末を過ごしたことでしょう is equally fine in this context.

This type of こと adds an exclamatory feeling and/or the level of certainty to an inferential sentence. It's hard to translate this, but "(for) sure", "naturally" or "indeed" may have a similar connotation in English.

それはとても残念だっただろう。
それはとても残念だったことだろう。
それはとても残念だったことと思います。
(It) must have been very disappointing.

明日には東京に着いているでしょう。
明日には東京に着いていることでしょう。
明日には東京に着いていることと思います。
(We) will arrive in Tokyo tomorrow.

お疲れでしょう。
お疲れのことでしょう。
お疲れのこと(だ)と思います。
You must be tired.

お気づきでしょうが、…
お気づきのことでしょうが、…
お気づきのことと思いますが、…
You probably have noticed this, but ...

In particular, I feel this type of こと is common in the context of inferring someone's feelings or situation.

こと is also used in an exclamatory sentence like this:

なんと素晴らしいのでしょう。
なんと素晴らしいことでしょう。
なんと素晴らしいことだ！
なんと素晴らしいこと！ (rare, feminine)
How wonderful!

As pointed out as a comment, expressions directly related to hoping do not work well in this context.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

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