Meaning & usage
はずだ expresses a speaker's confident expectation based on reason or evidence that something ought to be true, as in 来るはずだ or 静かなはずだ. It follows the plain form of verbs and i-adjectives, with na-adjectives taking な and nouns taking の, as in 学生のはずだ. The time of the expected situation is shown by the form before はず, while はず itself inflects for the speaker's viewpoint, such as はずだった for a past expectation and はずがない for strong denial.
Example sentences 7
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バスはすぐ来るはずだよ。
The bus should be coming soon.
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アンがピアノをひいているはずがない。
Ann cannot be playing the piano.
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学校にいるはずのお前が、なぜこんな所にいるんだ？
Why are you here when you should be in school?
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そんなはずないよ。
That can't be true.
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だからもうここに着いているはずだ。
So they ought to have arrived here by now.
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ルーシーは今台所にいるはずだ。
Lucy should be in the kitchen now.
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これでうまくいくはずだ。
This should do the trick.
In past JLPT papers
This came up in 18 past exam questions.
And 14 more tests.
