I'm trying to translate a phrase、許せるはずもなく. Generally, I think the meaning
should be along the lines of "We were not forgiven," but with the grammatical
structure of verb + hazu + naku, would it be directly translated as "We were
not able to be forgiven"?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-11-11T18:26:05.313
13394
2015-09-29T19:51:57.497
4174
question
grammar translation
Trying to translate a 許せるはずもなく
I'll take a shot in the dark, since this question was asked months ago.

If the potential form takes a subject marker が as its 'object' (here object
refers to its role in English), you can reduce it to the `NP P NP` form,
which, for brevity's sake, is the simple adjectival descriptor like 犬が重い [the
dog is heavy].

With the potential form, this becomes 誰か に 何か が できる [something was possible
for somebody]. By that reasoning, potential forms with が are emphasizing the
_act_. Something was done that was of course unforgivable. This act was beyond
forgiveness. Etc. etc.

The addition of はず+ない modifies the verb phrase--here はず refers to
"expectation", which in this case is societal. That's why "beyond forgiveness"
corresponds well as translation--ない is sort of an adjective, and "beyond
forgiveness" is an adjectival phrase. Both the Japanese sentence and this
translation describe the _act_ , which is also a plus.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-12T04:35:53.410
13687
2014-02-12T10:36:06.913
2014-02-12T10:36:06.913
3131
3131
13394
answer
I generally don't like answering with an English translation, but the meaning
of this phrase is relatively simple. It means: " **with no reason for
forgiveness** ".

What that means in the context of your story is impossible to determine
without more context.

はず does not mean anything out of the ordinary. See [What is the difference
between 「はずがない」 and 「わけがない」?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/171/384)
for a complete explanation.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-12-12T13:51:47.957
13694
2013-12-12T13:51:47.957
2017-04-13T12:43:44.397
-1
384
13394
answer
To native speakers, 「[許]{ゆる}せるはずもなく」 would make enough sense without further
context. All that is unclear is who is not forgiving whom, but OP would surely
know who would be in the position to forgive or not forgive someone. If OP
does not, then he has not been able to follow the story --- with or without
this particular phrase.

Seriously, it is nothing new seeing sentences ending in [連用形]{れんようけい} even in
prose, let alone in poetry. In poetry, it IS the norm. Ending a sentence in
連用形 allows the reader/listener use his imagination and complete the sentence
himself. The reader/listener also has the choice to not complete the sentence
by pretending that it ended in [終止形]{しゅうしけい} --- in this case, a「許せるはずもなかった」.

The 「も」 is a key word here though no one has mentioned it so far. It suggests
that the event of Person A not forgiving Person B was completely "expected".
It is the emphatic も.

"As expected, (Person A) was totally unable to forgive (Person B)."
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-11T00:12:58.717
14459
2014-02-11T00:12:58.717
13394
answer
**はず, 筈** : This word stems from a deep metaphor. 筈を付ける means to nock an
arrow, that is to place (付ける) the nock (筈) of an arrow on the string of a bow.
So when you're saying something like 「先生もいらっしゃるはずだよ」 imagine you have an arrow
with the phrase 「先生もいらっしゃる」 written on it and that it's on your string. ＜～はず＞
means that the situation has the potential to be true, because several other
things have "nocked its arrow," and if the arrow were released it'd be likely
to hit its mark (be true).

So, 「許せるはずもない」 means that there is no potential for 「許せる」 to be true. The も
part of it means that that's in addition to something else, or that even
something as simple as the potential for 「許せる」 is lacking. It's very simple
when you see it this way.

＜許せる＞ forgive someone  
＜話せるはず＞ expectation/potential for forgiving someone  
＜話せるはずはない＞ There is no expectation/potential for X being able to forgive Y.  
＜話せるはずもない＞ There is not even expectation/potential for X being able to forgive
Y.

So, I'd translate it: "There was no way X could forgive Y ..., ..."
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-12T11:33:38.967
14468
2015-09-29T19:51:57.497
2015-09-29T19:51:57.497
3437
4678
13394
answer