# ぜひ vs きっと



## kyn

Hi,
Thanks for your detailed answer. Still, I don't think that the rewrite sounds odd without "~tai".
For example:
"ぜひ　行くよ" means "Surely I will go".
So "ぜひ　行かないよ" would mean "Surely I won't go".

And if I want to say "Surely I won't forget", I think I would use "ぜひ　わすれないよ". Is there anything wrong?
*
Moderator Note:
This thread has been branched from here.*


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## Captain Haddock

It seems to me that ぜひ is almost always used with たい or a request, indicating desire. If I heard ぜひ行かないよ, I'd probably interpret it as an odd request to someone else not to go.


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## kyn

Really? So how do you say "Surely I will go"?


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## jp_fr_linguaphile

I would say きっと行くよ.


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## kyn

So, I can't use "ぜひ" to say that?


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## SpiceMan

Hmm... I would never say "きっといくよ" if talking about myself. きっと is "sure" but as a conjecture, a deduction from the premises of previously known information... and one wouldn't conjecture about oneself, nor speak in that way, usually. Since きっと implies saying the result of some pondering into previous information it express a conclusion rather than an assertion. Maybe it even has a stint of desire... of how we want reality to become.

On the other hand, ぜひ is, on the other hand, more of an assertion and thus would not make sense when talking about other peoples actions, since one can only conjecture or guess what other people will do. Also, since ぜひ is kind of assertive a phrase is at odds if the verb is a negation. You usually use it to assert only, as far as I know.

So, in my opinion:
(私は)ぜひ　行くよ  assertion, I really would like to go.
（私は）きっと　行くよ  conjecture... sounds odd if talking about oneself.
（誰かは）ぜひ 行くよ  assertion... sounds wrong being that confident when not talking about oneself.
(誰かは)きっと　行くよ  conjecture + stint of desire. He said he'd come, so he _will_ come, right? We want him to come, right?


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## cheshire

（私は）ぜひ　行かないよ
（誰かは）ぜひ　行かないよ
（誰かは）ぜひ　行くよ　(possible only if 誰か is in close relationship to the speaker)
(誰かは）ぜひ　行くだろうよ

wasurenai 忘れない：不忘(simply "not forget")
wasurezuni itai 忘れずにいる：不忘*着*("keep the state of not forgetting")


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## kyn

So, in conclusion, "ぜひ" is used when we talk about ourselves and "きっと" is used to talk about other people, right?

And what if I want to say "Surely/certainly I won't go" and "Surely/certainly he won't go"?


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## cheshire

Basically yes, but I won't say "きっと is used to talk about other people".

きっと僕は奨学金を受けれるだろう。
きっと僕はやり遂げるだろう。

I won't say 私はきっと行くだろう　is wrong, and I'd use it with no problem, but it's more acceptable and normal to say 私はきっと行けるだろう.

To anser your last question: もちろん私は行かないよ。　きっと私はいかないよ。きっと私は行きません。もちろんかれは行かないよ。


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## Flaminius

kyn said:


> So, in conclusion, "ぜひ" is used when we talk about ourselves and "きっと" is used to talk about other people, right?


No.  ぜひ is simply an adverb to emphasize desire and typically accompanied by _-tai_.

For the first person, a typical use of _zehi_ is;
ぜひ行きたいな (I would be anxious to go)  OR more colloquially,
ぜひ行くよ (I shall certainly go).
The latter is possible because the dictionary form of a verb can be understood as an expression of desire when the subject is the speaker.

For the second and the third persons, _zehi_ examples are:
ぜひ行ってくれ (Please pretty please go)
ぜひ行ってもらいたいな (I really hope that they go)


きっと is conjecture with high probability, strong request or determination.  Note that some options are only for certain persons.

For the first person, the primary use of _kitto_ is determination.
きっと行くよ (I shall certainly go) — less common than constructions with ぜひ but still possible.
It can also mean conjecture with high probability as per *cheshire*'s example.  To reproduce;
私はきっと行けるだろう.

For the second person, _kitto_ is strong request.  I sense this is getting rarer and rarer but let me give an example:
きっと金曜日までに帰ってきてくださいね (Please please make sure that you come back by Friday)

Conjecture looks also possible:
きっと金曜までに帰ってきますよね (You will certainly come back by Friday, won't you?)

For the third person, the only possible option is conjecture.
来年の夏はきっと今年よりも涼しいだろう (Summer next year will surely be cooler than that this year)


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## notnotchris

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think 是非 can be used just to be polite in some cases, for example:

"いつかうちに遊びに来てくださいね。"
"はい。是非。"

Here, you wouldn't say something like きっと because it's stronger, almost like you are swearing to do something. Zehi means more like, "by all means" (in this polite case, at least)


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