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さぞ (sazo) Japanese meaning: surely | Kotomora

さぞ

さ

ぞ

Common word›JLPTN1›Freq.FrequencyTop 20,000

Meanings

1

surely; no doubt; must

usually written using kana alone

Expresses the speaker's strong conjecture or empathetic certainty about another person's feelings or situation. Often used with ～でしょう or ～だろう.

さぞお疲

つか

れ

でしょう

。

You must be tired.

さぞかし驚おどろいたことだろう。

I'm sure you were surprised.

Usage patterns

さぞ〈形けい容よう詞し〉でしょうyou/he/she must be ~ (empathetic guess about someone's state)
長ながい旅りょ行こうで、さぞお疲つかれでしょう。
After such a long trip, you must be exhausted.
さぞ〈事こと〉だったことでしょうit must have been quite a ~ (looking back on someone's past experience)
地じ震しんの夜よるは、さぞ怖こわかったことでしょう。
The night of the earthquake must have been terrifying for you.

Kanji

嘸how, indeed, I dare say

Related words

きっとN5
きっと is a general expression of confident conjecture ('surely', 'probably'), while さぞ specifically expresses empathetic certainty about someone else's feelings or situation.
よほどN2
よほど describes an objective high degree of something, whereas さぞ conveys the speaker's emotional inference about another person's state.
多た分ぶんN5
たぶん is a plain, everyday word for 'probably' used for any guess, while さぞ is a more literary word reserved for sympathetic conjecture about someone's feelings.
さぞかしN1
さぞ is the shorter, slightly less emphatic form of さぞかし, both expressing confident conjecture.

Don't confuse with

さすがN2
さすが and さぞ sound similar and both begin with さ-, but さすが means 'as one would expect (given X)' while さぞ means 'surely, no doubt' when imagining someone's state.

Word family

さぞかしN1
surely; certainly; must have been
さぞや
surely; certainly; no doubt

Written forms

さぞUsage100%
Almost always written in kana; the kanji form 嘸 is rare.
嘸さぞUsage<1%
rarely-used kanji form
Rare kanji form; learners should use the kana spelling.

Etymology

A classical Japanese adverb formed from さ, “so; in that way,” and the emphatic particle ぞ, later developing its conjectural sense “surely; no doubt.”