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LEARN + JAPANESE / 56 of 186 JLPT N4

It Has To Be はず

You called ahead, checked the opening hours, and arrived during them—so the shop should be open. はず expresses what you expect to be true based on the evidence.

Hint · 힌트
だろう marks an open guess, かもしれない marks a bare possibility, but はず sits above both, a conclusion you’re confident in because you have a specific reason to believe it, a schedule, a pattern, something you know.
Hint · 힌트
な-adjectives and nouns insert な before はず, 暇なはず, just as they do before の or のに, while い-adjectives and verbs attach directly. The reasoning behind はず is often spelled out explicitly with から right before it, as both examples above show.

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