まさか

まさか · masaka · JLPT N3 · expression

by no means

Sounds like Ma's a car?! — by no means, surely not!

まさか is the gasp of disbelief: no way, surely not, by no means. The pun works the same way, because Ma's a car? is a claim you'd reject at once. On its own it's an exclamation (まさか!), and it can also start a sentence: まさか彼が… (surely he didn't…).

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