N3 Grammar · Test 29

Yamaguchi is asking Northkawa for a favor: 'Could you pass these documents to Hirota-san for me?' 渡してもらえませんか is the polite request form using 〜てもらえませんか ('could you please do (action) for me?'). Here, 渡して + おいてもらえませんか — wait, more precisely, the option is おいてもらえませんか, which combines 渡して + おいて + もらえませんか. Actually, the full phrase is 渡しておいてもらえませんか = 'Could you pass (the documents) and leave them (with Hirota-san) for me?' The 〜てもらえませんか pattern is a standard polite way to ask someone to do something for you.

• 1おいてあげますよ means 'I'll do it for you.' This is the speaker offering to do the action themselves, but Yamaguchi is asking Northkawa to do it, not offering to do it himself.
• 2おこうと思えますか means 'Can (I) think of doing it?' This is grammatically awkward and does not function as a request. The pattern 〜う/ようと思う is for one's own intention, not for asking favors.
• 4おこうと思いませんよ means 'I don't think I'll do it.' This is a refusal, not a request, and contradicts the context where Yamaguchi is asking for help.

• 〜てもらえませんか — could you please do [action] for me? (polite request)
• 渡わたす — to hand over; to pass (something to someone)
• 〜ておく — to do something in advance / for a purpose; to leave something in a certain state

The narrator found tomato jam and thought: 'If it's jam, it's sweet, so maybe even I — who dislikes tomato's sourness — could eat it.' The key is that the person has NOT tried it yet, so they are speculating about a future possibility. 食べられる (potential form: 'can eat') + かもしれない ('might') = 'might be able to eat.' This expresses the narrator's hopeful speculation that they might be able to eat it despite disliking tomatoes. The potential form is necessary because the person is bad with tomatoes (usually can't eat them), and かもしれない expresses uncertainty about a future event.

• 1食べるかもしれない means 'might eat.' This lacks the potential form, so it doesn't convey 'might be able to eat.' The context is about whether the person CAN eat it (overcoming their dislike), not simply whether they will eat it.
• 3食べるようになった means 'came to eat / became able to eat' (habitual), but this is past tense and describes a completed change. The narrator hasn't tried the jam yet, so a past-tense change is impossible here.
• 4食べられるようになった means 'became able to eat' (past tense). This describes a change that already happened, but the narrator is speculating about the future before trying the jam, so past tense does not fit.

• 食たべられる — can eat (potential form of 食べる)
• 〜かもしれない — might; perhaps; possibly (expresses uncertainty)
• 〜ようになる — to come to be able to; to reach the point where (indicates a change over time)
• 苦手にがて — bad at; not good with; dislike (something one struggles with)

Option 1 (してこないはず) is correct. The speaker is making a logical deduction about someone else's behavior: 'If it were an expensive ring, she wouldn't come to work wearing it.' The verb needed is してくる (to do something and come), which in this context means 'to wear (a ring) and come.' Its negative form is してこない. The auxiliary はず (expectation/conclusion) is appropriate here because the speaker is reasoning about what Takada-san would or wouldn't do. Thus, してこないはず means 'there is no way she would come wearing it.'

• 2しにこないはず uses しにくる (to come in order to do something). 指輪をしにくる would mean 'to come to the office in order to put on a ring,' which makes no sense in this context. She is already wearing the ring when she arrives.
• 3してこないつもり uses the correct verb form but the wrong auxiliary. つもり expresses one's own intention. It is unnatural to use つもり to describe a third party's presumed action in this way, and the speaker is making a deduction, not stating an intention.
• 4しにこないつもり is wrong for both reasons: しにくる has the wrong meaning (coming in order to put on a ring), and つもり is the wrong auxiliary for a logical deduction about someone else.

• 指輪ゆびわ — ring (jewelry)
• 〜てくる — to do something and come; to come while in the state of having done something (e.g., 指輪をしてくる = to come wearing a ring)
• 〜にくる — to come in order to do something (e.g., 遊びにくる = to come to play)
• はず — expectation, logical conclusion; 'should,' 'ought to,' 'no way that...'
• つもり — intention, plan; used for one's own intended actions

The correct answer is 2 (までには). The sentence means 'Yamada is in a meeting, but I think the meeting will end by 11:30.' までに means 'by (a certain time)' — indicating a deadline before which something will happen. The は adds the nuance of 'at least by.' 11時半までには終わる = 'will end by 11:30 (at the latest).' This is the natural way to express an expected completion time.

• 1までは would mean 'until 11:30,' which with 終わる creates an odd meaning: 'will end until 11:30.' まで marks a continuous duration, while までに marks a deadline. For 終わる (a point-action verb), までに is correct.
• 3までも is not a standard construction here. まで + も would imply 'even until,' which does not fit the context of stating when the meeting will end.
• 4までにも is not grammatically standard and does not convey the intended 'by a certain time' meaning.

• までに — by (a certain time); before a deadline
• まで — until (a certain time); indicating duration
• 会議中かいぎちゅう — in the middle of a meeting

The correct answer is 3 (ようなら). The brother says 'If it looks like it'll go past 9, call me. I'll go pick you up.' ようなら means 'if it seems that / if it appears that,' forming a conditional based on a judgment or appearance. 9時過ぎるようなら = 'if it seems like it'll go past 9.' This is natural because the sister may not know exactly when she'll be done, so the brother asks her to judge and call if it looks like it will be late.

• 1らしいなら uses らしい, which indicates conjecture based on hearsay or external evidence. The sister would know her own schedule directly, not through hearsay, so らしい is unnatural here. よう (based on one's own judgment/appearance) is more appropriate.
• 2らしいのに means 'even though it seems ~,' which expresses contrast/concession, not a condition. The brother needs a conditional ('if ~, then call'), not a concessive.
• 4ようなのに also means 'even though it seems like ~,' expressing concession. This does not fit the context where the brother is giving a conditional instruction.

• 〜ようなら — if it seems that / if it appears that (conditional based on judgment or appearance)
• 〜らしい — seems to / appears to (based on hearsay or objective evidence)
• 〜のに — even though / despite (expresses concession/contrast)
• 迎えに行く（むかえにいく） — to go pick someone up

Option 1 「話しかけないほうがよさそうだな」is correct. The younger brother wanted to talk to his father about dropping out of school, but the older brother says the father looked busy. Based on that, the younger brother judges: 'Then right now, it seems like it'd be better not to talk to him.' The grammar here is ～ほうがいい (it's better to...) combined with よさそうだ (seems good — the conjectural そうだ / 推量そうだ). This expresses the brother's own judgment that, given the situation, avoiding talking to his father is the wiser choice. The nuance is: 'I want to talk to him, but it seems better not to right now.'

• 2「話しかけなくてもよさそうだな」uses ～なくてもいい (don't need to / it's okay not to), which means there is no necessity to talk to him. This doesn't fit the context: the brother actively WANTS to consult his father, so the issue isn't whether he 'needs to' or not — it's that it seems inadvisable right now because the father is busy. The nuance is wrong: it sounds like 'I guess I don't have to bother talking to him,' rather than 'I'd better not talk to him now.'
• 3「話しかけないほうがいいそうだな」looks very similar to option 1, but the critical difference is いいそうだ instead of よさそうだ. Here, そうだ is the hearsay pattern (伝聞そうだ), meaning 'I hear that...' / 'People say that...'. The brother is not reporting something he heard from someone else; he is making his own conjecture based on the older brother's observation that the father looked busy. So the hearsay reading is inappropriate here.
• 4「話しかけなくてもいいそうだな」combines both problems: ～なくてもいい (no need to) doesn't fit the context, and そうだ is hearsay (伝聞), which also doesn't fit. The brother is making a personal judgment, not relaying something he heard.

• 話はなしかける — to start talking to someone / to address someone
• 忙いそがしそう — looking busy (忙しい + conjectural そう)
• 退学たいがく — dropping out of school / withdrawal from school
• 相談そうだんする — to consult / to talk over
• ～ほうがいい — it's better to... / you should... (expresses advisability)
• ～なくてもいい — don't need to... / it's okay not to... (expresses lack of necessity)
• よさそうだ — seems good (よい → よさ + そうだ; conjectural そうだ / 推量)
• ～そうだ（伝聞）（～そうだ（でんぶん）） — I hear that... / it is said that... (hearsay pattern)