Thursday, April 4, 2019

Understanding the grammar behind ~かよ in 知るかよ and マジかよ etc


I think that 知るかよ! means "like I would know!"/"hell, if I know!" and that マジかよ! means something like "[are you/is this] for real?"/"seriously?", but is there an underlying rule behind the ~かよ pattern seen at the end of sentences?


If I was to, for example, say (それを)食べるかよ, what kind of a meaning would it have?


Can ~かよ also be used as an ordinary question? Does it make a rhetorical question?



Answer



is a sentence final particle that makes a question, and is a sentence final particle that adds the subject's attitude. Ignoring the meaning added by , which does not affect the core meaning of the sentence, all of the sentences you have are questions. And in all of your examples, they are rhetorical questions.




知るかよ
literally: 'Do I know/bother about it?'
'I don't know/bother about it!'


まじかよ
literally: 'Is that serious?'
'I can't believe it!'


食べるかよ
literally: 'Will I eat it?'
'I won't eat it!'



欧米か!



Note that the addition of adds subject's attitude, which makes it difficult to interpret the sentences as literal questions.


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