I hear のに is followed by a contradiction, and so it can be likened to “even though X, (instead) Y” – or more simply, I’ve heard it can be likened to “but” or “however”.
BUT, it doesn’t always seem to be used that way. I found this in an anime – how would “のに” be translated here?
(Context: This character is talking about a girl who quit their music club when things got tough)
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>私だったら絶対逃げない
>
>嫌ならねじ伏せればいい
>
>それができないのにやめたってことは 逃げたってことでしょ
I would roughly-translate this to something akin to:
>If it was me, I definitely couldn’t run away
>
>If it gets hard, you should force through it
>
>The fact that **she couldn’t do that but she quit** \- that means she ran away, doesn’t it?
The bold sentence, I feel, would be more natural if it was “she couldn’t do that **and so** she quit” or “**because** she couldn’t do that, she quit” – because “quitting” is NOT contradictory to “being unable to do” what she described.
I thought のに was used to express contradiction, but there is no contradiction here such as “but”… though is it possible のに can also be used to describe “due to…”?
Just sorta wondering what’s going on here. If anyone could help, I’d be grateful.
5 comments
The second interpretation you have is accurate. “The fact that she didn’t do that and quit means she ran away — right?!”
のに is used as a contradiction marker, sure, but it’s also used to show frustration and/or judgment. So in this case, it’s both pointing out that what the prior sentence stated didn’t happen, and giving some her some shit for it. Almost as if you said “The fact that she couldn’t even do that…”
This is from Hibike! Euphonium right? Very good taste OP. Also, yes, のに is used for more than just contradictions, it has more of a “disappointed” or “judging” kinda feeling there. Like she expected or thought that Nozomi ought to do more, but she didn’t and decided to run away.
the subs are **interpretated** not translated the use of のに is more an emotional particle than a functional piece of grammar. Normally this particle can have lots of interpretations depending on how the context is conveyed in a specific sitation.
That perception you have of feeling more natural a different interpretation is just an illusion. You have to take in count the whole sentence not just a part of it.
In this example のに can be afected by the tone of voice, what follows it and maybe the person to who is said. Now, のに is followed by やめた「って」こと「は」this two are affecting the “essence” of the meaning NOT the literal translation.
Please analize those two extra particles that are used after noni and listen the tone of voice with what is being said. Specially は, it has a special use there to be interpretated the way they are. 😉
勉強っていうのはここまでやってちゃったぞ、こんな易しく文章が解けるに過ぎないでしょう！
I also had your same misunderstanding about のに. The answer I came up with is that it’s simply just a の nominalizer combined with に. And the explanation of に that sat right with me the most was from Imabi: “に shows deep establishment of an action or state.”
So I think when AのにB is being used to show contradiction, it’s really just telling you how B is established over the state of A, which then emphasizes any apparent contradiction. However, something doesn’t need to be contradictory to use のに.
I hope that was understandable. I’m not familiar with the linguistics behind it, so I can only tell you how it makes sense to me lol.
To be honest, I find のに here is questionable too.
Surely, it conveys her frustration but it lacks contradiction which is the main point of のに as a connective. Compared to が or だけど, のに usually conveys a stronger sense of contradiction.
Maybe it’s just slang usage among girls. However, as a proofreader, I would suggest うちに/まま instead of のに, or それなのに instead of それができないのに.
Even それができるのに might make more sense.