Various degrees of certainty
In general, Japanese people don't assert themselves of something unless they are absolutely sure that it is correct. This accounts for the incredibly frequent use of 「～と思う」 and the various grammatical expressions used to express specific levels of certainty. We will go over these expressions starting from the less certain to the most certain.
Using 「かもしれない」 to express uncertainty
「かもしれない」 is used to mean "maybe" or "possibly" and is less certain than the word 「多分」. It attaches to the end of a complete clause. For noun and na-adjective clauses, the declarative 「だ」 must be removed. It can also be written in kanji as 「かも知れない」 and you can treat it the same as a negative ru-verb (there is no positive equivalent) so the masu-form would become 「かもしれません」. In casual speech, it can be abbreviated to just 「かも」. There is also a very masculine version 「かもしれん」, which is simply a different type of negative verb.
- Simply attach 「かもしれない」 or 「かも知れない」 to the clause
例） 映画を見たかもしれない
例） 彼は学生かもしれない
例） それは面白いかもしれない
- Noun and na-adjective clauses must not use the declarative 「だ」
例） 先生だかもしれない → 先生かもしれない
例） 退屈だかもしれない → 退屈かもしれない
- It can be abbreviated to just 「かも」 in casual speech
例） 面白いかもしれない→ 面白いかも
Examples
- スミスさんは食堂に行ったかもしれません。
Smith-san may have gone to the cafeteria. - 雨で試合は中止になるかもしれないね。
The game may become canceled by rain, huh? - この映画は一回見たことあるかも！
I might have already seen this movie once. - あそこが代々木公園かもしれない。
That might be Yoyogi park over there. - もう逃げられないかもしれんぞ。
Might not be able to escape anymore, you know.
Using 「でしょう」 to express a fair amount of certainty (polite)
「でしょう」 is used to express a level of some certainty and is close in meaning to 「多分」. Just like 「～です／～ます」, it must come at the end of a complete sentence. It does not have any other conjugations. You can also replace 「～ですか」 with 「～でしょうか」 to make the question sound slightly more polite and less assuming by adding a slight level of uncertainty.
Examples
- 明日も雨でしょう。
Probably rain tomorrow too. - あなたは、学生さんでしょうか。
Are (you) student? - これからどこへ行くんでしょうか？
Where (are you) going from here?
If you want to sound really, really polite, you can even add 「～でしょうか」 to the end of a 「～ます」 ending.
- 休ませていただけますでしょうか。- May I receive the favor of resting, possibly?
Using 「でしょう」 and 「だろう」 to express strong amount of certainty (casual)
The casual equivalent of 「でしょう」 is surprisingly enough 「でしょう」. However, when you are speaking in a polite manner, the 「でしょう」 is enunciated flatly while in casual speech, it has a rising intonation and can be shortened to 「でしょ」. In addition, since people tend to be more assertive in casual situations, the casual version has a much stronger flavor often sounding more like, "See, I told you so!"
Example 1
Ａ：あっ！遅刻しちゃう！
A: Ah! We're going to be late!
Ｂ：だから、時間がないって言ったでしょう！
B: That's why I told you there was no time!
Example 2
Ａ：これから食べに行くんでしょ。
A: You're going to eat from now aren't you?
Ｂ：だったら？
B: So what if I am?
Example 3
Ａ：掃除、手伝ってくれるでしょう。
A: You're going to help me clean, right?
Ｂ：え？そうなの？
B: Huh? Is that so?
「だろう」 means essentially the same thing as 「でしょう」 except that it sounds more masculine and is used mostly by males.
Example 4
Ａ：アリスはどこだ？
A: Where is Alice?
Ｂ：もう寝ているだろう。
B: Probably sleeping already.
Example 5
Ａ：もう家に帰るんだろう。
A: You're going home already, right?
Ｂ：そうよ。
B: That's right.
（A） アリスはどこだ？- Where is
（A） アリスはどこだ？- Where is Alice?
I`m curious about the だ copula in this question. Is it actually okay to ask a question in this way? The way I understood The Basics section, だ is never used at the end of questions.
What about these alternatives? Are they okay? How are they different?
アリスはどこの？
アリスはどこだの？
short answer - yes you can
short answer - yes you can use the だ copula in that way, and your alternatives are not correct.
long answer - yes the だ is declarative and you are correct to assume it would be incorrect. however, there are several factors that allow you to use it in a question.
The main reason is that アリスはどこだ makes no sense as declarative sentence.
'Alice is where!'
And since どこ functions grammatically as a noun here, it is proper to attach the だ. We are forced to read it as a question.
In regards to your alternatives アリスはどこの and アリスはどこだの, you are correct in that の can be used as a question marker. It is softer and a little bit more feminine than か. (But I do hear men use it as well sometimes) however it can't be used like this. You might see アリスはどこなの？But I think almost everyone in a casual situation would simply shorten it all the way down to アリスはどこ？Usually the の as a question marker can only be directly slapped onto the end of a verb. Not exactly sure why but I just know it can't be used like you ask. Let me give you some examples to help:
今日帰るの？
Will you go home today?
あれは．．．何なの？！？
That...What is that?!?
ジョンのかばん？
lit: John's bag?
ナットは本当に食べれるの？
Can you really eat natto?
Just as an interesting sidenote, I live on the west coast of Japan in an area called Shonai. If you saw the Academy Award winner for best foreign film a couple years back 'Departures,' it was also in Shonai. In 庄内弁 (Shonai accent) のis used instead of the な gobi and so we actually say ...だの all the time here. It sounds so funny that shonaiben is the laughingstock of japanese dialects.
今日はまた雨だの。
Today it will be rain again, won't it...
1. だ is the informal version
1. だ is the informal version of です.
2. I'm at quite an early stage of learning japanese, so I don't know about the alternatives. For what I've heard の is for possession, but I know for sure that it can be used in words, too. (きもの). I really don't know about this, sorry.
1. だ is the informal version
1. だ is the informal version of です.
This is not so simple--read the bottom of this page (and the rest while you're at it):
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/polite
2. For what I've heard の is for possession, but I know for sure that it can be used in words, too. (きもの).
These are not the same thing. 着物（きもの）is composed with the word 物（もの), which is "thing" (http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?p=%E3%82%82%E3%81%AE&enc=UTF-8&stype=0&dt...). This is not the same thing as the の particle getting turned into a generic noun--that happens through grammatical "shortcuts" so to speak. They are different even though they are used in apparently similar ways.
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/nounparticles
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/genericnouns (also may be useful)
Sorry, I just wanted to point
Sorry, I just wanted to point out that this is not correct. だ is NOT the informal version of です, it is a more emphatic "declaration" of state of being. The informal version of です is not using anything.
それは本だ。 That is (as a matter of fact) a book. (emphatic, informal)
それは本。 That is a book. (informal)
それは本です。 That is a book. (formal)
The reason that だ can not be the informal version of です lies in this grammar construction:
変だと思います。 I think it's strange. (formal)
You can NOT do this:
変ですと思います。 I think it's strange. X
However in some cases you may replace だ with です but it is very uncommon to do so and sounds clunky:
夏だから本当に暑いですね。 Because it's summer, it's really hot. (formal)
夏ですから本当に暑いですね。 Because it's summer, it's really hot. (more formal but sounds weird)
You can also place です at the end of i-adjectives, na-adjectives, and nouns, but だ may only be used after na-adjectives and nouns.
厚い。 (It is) hot. (informal) vs 厚いです。 (It is) hot. (formal)
厚いだ。 (It is) hot. X
No, I'm sorry, but you don't
No, I'm sorry, but you don't know what you're talking about. Learn the language properly before you start flaunting your limited knowledge in a dogmatic fashion. And what is up with using a grammatical construction to prove a point? That doesn't even make any sense. They're called grammatical constructions for a reason: it's the linguistically proper way to convey a message with a particular meaning/nuance/etc.
Debunking your Comment:
0.1. 「だ」 and 「です」 fulfill certain additional functions aside from being the copula. In subordinate clauses, such as your example above, such clauses may only take 「だ」 as the predicate; it also doesn't affect the degree of politeness in the sentence, which is governed by the independent clause (main sentence with the dominant verb), hence ～だと思う and ～だと思います. 「ですと思います」 is a redundant polite sentence. It's the same reason you don't find double or triple exalted forms いらっしゃっていらっしゃいませんでございました which would be いらしゃっていませんでした． You only need one exalted form per clause. For 「です」 See Point 3.
0.2． 「夏だから」＋「本当に暑いですね」 is a complex clause, where から is a conjunction. Unlike English, から allows the usage of です treating it as two independent clauses, which makes each clause polite. It is not grammatically incorrect, nor is it "weird". And when has polite language every been short and streamlined in any language? "Clunky" and "stilted" syntax is the epitome of politeness.
0.3. 「だ」 is declarative, and nothing else. 「～なんだ」 is the emphatic, also using emphatic particles like よ、ぞ、の add greater emphasis: ～なんだよ! The usage of 「だ」 in interrogative sentences is mainly done by males for added power, like in 何だよ！ and 誰だ.
Your example done correctly: それは本なんだ（よ）!
0.4. 「だ」 can only be used with nouns and na-adjectives because na-adjectives ARE nouns, they're NOUN adjectives called adjectival nouns, or 形容動詞. They are nouns that function as adjectives with their own special conjugation of the copula, which is actually considered part of the adjective. 「だ」 suffixed to a na-adjective is called the terminal form, or 終止形, which is the equivalent to the i-ending (暑い) in i-adjectives which are called pure/true adjectives, or 形容詞. They're called na-adjectives because the form of the copula suffixed is 「な」 when used to modify a noun from the front: this is called the attributive form, or 連体形, as in 綺麗な車.
Additional Points:
1. 「だ」 IS in fact the "plain" form or "informal" of 「です」. Just because it can be omitted, doesn't lend any validation to your claim that it's not the plain form. Your so-called omission being the informal is called a "colloquialism", aka "casual speech".
2. 「だ」 is a contraction of である, which is the true plain form of the copula, meaning the true form of 「です」 is であります.
Evidence: Does ではありません ring a bell? Japanese doesn't pull that long phrase out of thin air. It's the negative of であります。
3. 「です」 is merely a way to convey politeness when used with plain form adjectives, because unlike the copula and verbs, adjectives do not have a grammatical construction that conveys politeness. The adjectival equivalent of VB2 (Verb Base 2 or 連用形) for i-adjectives is -く, and we all know that saying something like 涼しくます doesn't work, likewise 綺麗でます doesn't work for na-adjectives, since it 1. -ます attaches only to the VB2, or 連用形, of verbs and 2. it functions as the the i-adjective's adverbial form, as in 涼しくなる and 綺麗で新しい.
Evidence: There's a reason we can say じゃないです。 Are you trying to say that this construction is redundant? No, it isn't. Why? Because じゃない or ではない functions as the sole predicate, while 「です」 merely functions as an addon for politeness. Note that in this instance, the copula functions as an adjective, and adjectives take です, but it doesn't mean that it's an adjective.
And it isn't one.
4. 「だ」 and 「です」 are various forms of the copula. It is not a verb! I repeat, it is NOT a verb. It behaves like a verb, but, no, it is not one. And when it looks like じゃない it behaves like an adjective, but it's not an adjective either. 「である」 and 「でござる」 are compounded to the particle で to form the copula. If anything, it is technically a particle that conjugates, so stop treating it like it's some verb, noun or adjective! It's special, and in a class all its own, called "the Copula". Leave it alone.
If you'd like to broaden your limited, and in this case also incredibly wrong, knowledge of Japanese, then do yourself a favor and read this article. The copula section features a table of plain forms, polite forms and exalted forms.
The first thing it will say is "The copula da behaves very much like a verb or an adjective in terms of conjugation.", because it's neither.
http://www.wa-pedia.com/language/japanese_grammar.shtml#The_copula_.28.2...
I don't know how accurate to
I don't know how accurate to Japanese this really is, but I like to think of でしょう/だろう as a suggestive (I don't know the official terms, I think you called that 'volitional') copula. In the part where でしょう was first introduced, when I hear that, I usually think of it as the person suggesting whatever quality is accurate for the situation. In the second case, it is still suggestive, but a little sarcastic-sounding, hence the implication that the person speaking truly believes whatever the sentence is describing is fact, and even feels a little annoyed that the listener didn't notice.
Oddly enough I picked that idea up from my Japanese teacher muttering to herself about how slow some of my fellow students can be...she says amusing things sometimes.
Don't know if that was helpful or even correct, I just found it interesting to think about.
でしょう？
でしょう？
かもしれない kanji
かもしれない kanji
I am living in Japan and I love this site! I have learned so much. I just have one comment: One of my coworkers (who is Japanese) was looking over my notes and she said かもしれない is never written in kanji. My Japanese is not perfect at all, but I think she said the meaning is different than the 知る kanji... But other than that, great site, thanks for explaining everything!
Keep in mind that just
Keep in mind that just because she's Japanese doesn't make her an expert in it. Likewise, will you assume you can trust anyone in American with English grammar who isn't an English linguist or major? Even English professors get their grammar wrong.
Also, no, my Japanese professor who is Japanese with a Ph.D. in Japanese writes it with the kanji. It Does say in the dictionary that it's usually written with kana. But there are a ton of words like that, and it's not a rule, it just means that it's also commonly written without kanji. Keep in mind there's kanji for the vast majority of kana phrases, like chotto, yappari, etc (yes, there's a way to write them in kanji). There are also a number of particles with kanji that are no longer used. There are always those who prefer kanji, and those who prefer kana, and I'd say there's a pretty good balance in Modern Japanese.
On a related note, my English professor marked me down a couple times in my essays and "corrected" it, making it wrong. You can believe I was really pissed. I'm not saying I don't make mistakes, but correcting something WRONG? I mean, seriously, after studying linguistics and five foreign languages, broken grammar tends to stick out like a sore thumb for me.
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