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Currently reading こころ 四話

> 「たった今出たばかりで、 **十分になるか、ならないかでございます** 」と奥さんは気の毒そうにいってくれた。

Does the bold part mean the same thing as「十分になるかもしれません」? How this phrase
works?
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2022-01-27T05:34:37.600
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question
grammar
What does「十分になるか、ならないか」mean?
After Chocolate explained it to me, I'll try and give a better answer.

The bolded part is still an embedded question. The quoted sentence means:

> It just came out. It will be about 10 minutes.

Here, using かもしれません changes the meaning quite drastically: it now means "It
might be ten minutes".

Edit: in response to Nanigashi's comment, the quoted sentence would mean:

> He just left, about 10 minutes ago.
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2022-01-27T18:01:24.307
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answer
The meaning of 十分になるかもしれません _Possibly ten mins have passed_ may be not that
different from the bold phrase, but it is more interchangeable with 十分くらいです
_It is about ten mins_.

Generally Xになるかならないか where X contains some quantity means _(the amount)
reaches X or possibly less_. In the example, the amount is the time that has
passed since someone (husband?) left home, and she is saying it is 10±α mins.

Some other examples:

  * 私が10歳になるかならないかのとき _When I was around 10 years old_
  * このパソコンは5万するかしないかだった _This PC costed 50000 yen or maybe less_
  * 今年のボーナスは100万いくかいかないかくらいだ _This year's bonus will be around 1000000 yen_

The pattern has a nuance of _at most (around) X_ , which should be the
difference from the other expressions mentioned above.
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answer