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In the context of one being aware of something deep down but choosing to
ignore it or lie about it to themselves. Example sentence:

> At the back of his mind he knew that his words would never reach her. [But
> still he stood in front of her grave and spoke as if she could hear.]
>
> ＿＿＿＿＿彼の言葉は彼女に届くことがないと分かっていた。

I was googling `心の後ろに` and `心の裏に`, and while they seemed to be valid phrases
they weren't actually used in this context. What would be the right way to say
this?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-15T02:36:30.100
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2017-07-15T03:00:44.063
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question
phrases word-requests phrase-requests
What is the Japanese equivalent of "at the back of one's mind"?
The most common way to say this is
[内心【ないしん】](http://jisho.org/word/%E5%86%85%E5%BF%83)では. 心の奥では and 心の奥底では also
work. You need で instead of に. The contrastive は is optional but it's usually
used in this context.

> 内心では、彼の言葉は彼女に届くことがないと分かっていた。  
>  心の奥では、彼の言葉は彼女に届くことがないと分かっていた。  
>  心の奥底では、彼の言葉は彼女に届くことがないと分かっていた。

There is not much difference, but the latter one is the most emphatic, and
thus probably implies you are scarcely aware of your inner thoughts.

心の裏では exists, but it's relatively uncommon, and sounds as if you were actually
thinking of something bad.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-15T02:40:51.737
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2017-07-15T03:00:44.063
2017-07-15T03:00:44.063
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answer