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果たして (はたして) Japanese meaning | Kotomora
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約やく
束そく
の
時じ
間かん
に
現あらわ
れ
た
。
Sure enough, he showed up at the promised time.
Usage patterns 果は たして 〜 だろうか used to pose a doubtful, rhetorical question: 'I wonder if ~ really'
I wonder if his plan will really succeed.
果は たして 〜 通どお りになる sure enough, things turn out exactly as expected
Sure enough, the result turned out just as expected.
果は たして 〜 かどうか expresses uncertainty about whether something is really the case
No one knows whether this method is really correct.
果は たして 〜 ものか rhetorically questions whether something could really happen or be true
Could he really do such a thing, I wonder?
Kanji 果 fruit, reward, carry out Related words やはり is the everyday word for 'as expected' in general situations, while 果たして tends to imply a result confirmed after some doubt, suspense, or waiting.
本当に is a plain intensifier meaning 'really', while 果たして in questions adds a rhetorical, wondering nuance rather than simple emphasis.
やっぱり is a casual, spoken-style variant of やはり, whereas 果たして is more formal and often used in writing to mark a predicted outcome.
いったい expresses exasperated or curious questioning ('what on earth'), while 果たして poses a calmer, more reflective doubt about whether something is truly so.
果たして is a more literary word that can mean either 'as expected' or 'I wonder if', while 案の定 unambiguously confirms that a prediction came true.
Written forms 果は たして Usage 58%
Standard kanji spelling; the most frequent written form.
はたして Usage 32%
果はた して Usage 10%
Variant without okurigana; less common but still encountered.
Etymology From the connective form 果たし of 果たす “to complete, bring to an end” plus て. Its older adverbial meanings included “completely” and “in the end,” from which the senses “as expected” and interrogative “really” developed.