# その人が買うんじゃなかったの？



## Ilmen

Good evening again. 

I was reading the Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide, on the chapter about the using of the 「の」 particle as explanation, when I saw the following example :


> *Example 4*
> 
> アリス：　その人が買う_んじゃなかったの_？- Wasn't it that that person was the one to buy?
> ボブ：　ううん、先生が買う_んだ_。- No, it is that teacher is the one to buy.
> Alice: Wasn't that person going to buy? (Expecting that the person would buy)
> Bob: No, the teacher is going to. (Explanatory)


I cannot figure out why there is another 「の」 at the end of the first sentence. Is this sentence correct? There is not any mistake?

Thank you for advance. ^^


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## YangMuye

It seems that he wonders/doubts if it is true that "その人が買うんじゃなかった".
Maybe he has heard of it from someone else.


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## Flaminius

> I cannot figure out why there is another 「の」 at the end of the first sentence.


This is a casual question marker.


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## almostfreebird

Ilmen said:


> アリス：　その人が買うんじゃなかったの？- Wasn't it that that person was the one to buy?
> ボブ：　ううん、先生が買うんだ。- No, it is that teacher is the one to buy.
> Alice: Wasn't that person going to buy? (Expecting that the person would buy)
> Bob: No, the teacher is going to. (Explanatory




This "の" is kind of question tags. (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/question+tag)

その人が買うんじゃなかったの？-  It was that that person was the one to buy,wasn't it?

That person was going to buy, wasn't he?

This "の" carries a softer tone.
This "の" doesn't carry a feminine tone at all and is used by both males and females.


その人が買うんじゃなかったの？ sounds casual and soft.
その人が買うんじゃなかったのか？ sounds  casual and carries a masculine tone.
その人が買うんじゃなかったんですか？ sounds polite and formal.


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## Ilmen

Okay, thank you for your answers. 
So, if I got it right, that's like the person that say this sentence wanted to explain something with a 「の」 (here as 「ん」) at the same time he query explanation with another 「の」 particle, it isn't?


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## almostfreebird

アリス：　その人が買うんじゃなかったの？


I said this "の" is kind of question tags, but it's not really a question tag, it has a feeling of question tag.

That "ん"(substitution of の) has a function to make Japanese version of "that clause":

"その人が買うの" or "その人が買うん" means "that that person is(was) going to buy"

"~じゃなかったの？" means "wasn't it~".

So "その人が買うんじゃなかったの？" can be translated as "Wasn't it that that person was going to buy?" literally.
A more natural English translation would be "That person was going to buy, wasn't he?"


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## Aoyama

Ce の ressemble un peu au français "hein !/?", comme dans "Ce n'est pas cette personne qui étaient sensée acheter ce truc, hein ?". A bit different from か as a question marker.
見ましたか？/見たの？
分かったか？/分かったかな[ぁ]?/分かったの?


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## Ilmen

Well, so, if I understood correctly, I wouln't be too wrong about the subtlety between using "[verb]んじゃなかったの？" or "[verb]わなかったの？" in these four sentences :

その人が買うんじゃなかったの？
Wasn't it that that person was going to buy?
--> Thinking that the person did while asking it.

その人が買うんじゃないの？
Was it that that person was going to buy?
--> Thinking that the person didn't while asking it.

その人が買わなかったの？
Is it that that person wasn't going to buy?
--> Wanting assertion to the fact that the person didn't.

その人が買ったの？
Is it that that person was going to buy?
--> Wanting assertion to the fact that the person did.

Please correct me if I'm wrong. 
宜しくお願いします。


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## Aoyama

その人が買うんじゃなかったの？
Wasn't it that person that/who was going to buy [that/this thing]?

その人が買うんじゃないの？
Isn't that person going to buy [it] ?

その人が買わなかったの？
This person didn't buy [it] ?

その人が買ったの？
Did that person buy [it] ?


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## almostfreebird

Ilmen said:


> その人が買うんじゃなかったの？
> Wasn't it that that person was going to buy?
> --> Thinking that the person did while asking it.
> 
> その人が買うんじゃないの？
> Was it that that person was going to buy?
> --> Thinking that the person didn't while asking it.
> 
> その人が買わなかったの？
> Is it that that person wasn't going to buy?
> --> Wanting assertion to the fact that the person didn't.
> 
> その人が買ったの？
> Is it that that person was going to buy?
> --> Wanting assertion to the fact that the person did.




その人が買うんじゃなかったの？
Wasn't it that that person was going to buy?
--> Wondering why the person did not while asking it.

その人が買うんじゃないの？
Isn't it that that person is going to buy?
--> Wondering why the person don't while asking it.

その人が買わなかったの？
Was it that that person didn't buy?
--> Asking to make sure that the person didn't.

その人が買ったの？
Was it that that person bought?
--> Asking to make sure that the person did.


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## Ilmen

Oh, yes, I made a mistake writing my seconde sentence, I wanted to write 「その人が買うんだったの？」 instead of 「その人が買うんじゃないの？」, but it does no longer matter, this time, I get it! Thank you for clarifying it, now I think I know the difference between 「その人が買わなかったの？」 and 「その人が買うんじゃなかったの？」.

However, I'm still wondering something. The role endossed by the ending "の" is not endossed by the first one (the "ん"), so? 「その人が買うんじゃなかった？」 do not carry such a question tag feeling, although it has a "んじゃ～"?

Thanks you for your answers. ^^


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