Japanese with Manga

Isn't the café named as such with 〜でしょう

Grammar Explanation: Presuming with 〜だろう and 〜でしょう

Manga panel from ご注文はうさぎですか？ showing example of Isn't the café named as such with 〜でしょう.
ご注文はうさぎですか？ » Volume 1 » Page 18

Now that she’s a barista at the Rabbit House café, Cocoa suggests thinks of an improvement for their barista uniform.

ココア:
「このお店(みせ)の名前(なまえ)ラビットハウスでしょう？」
“This place is called Rabbit House, right?”
Literal: “This shop's name is Rabbit House, right?”
「ウサ耳(みみ)つけないの？」
“How about if we add bunny ears?”
チノ:
「ウサ耳(みみ)なんてつけたら違(ちが)う店(みせ)になってしまいます」
“If we put on bunny ears, it would turn into a different kind of shop.”

Key Points

1でしょう asks for confirmation
  • In ラビットハウスでしょう, Cocoa is not making a wild guess. She expects Chino to agree that the café is called Rabbit House.
  • Here でしょう is close to “right?” or “isn’t it?”
2Ommitted particle は
  • The topic marker は is omitted after このお店(みせ)の名前(なまえ) in the casual spoken line.
  • The noun phrase このお店(みせ)の名前(なまえ) means “the name of this shop”.
3でしょう attaches to the whole statement
  • The underlying statement is 「このお店(みせ)の名前(なまえ)はラビットハウスだ」, meaning: “This shop is called Rabbit House.”
  • Changing だ to でしょう turns it into a soft confirmation question.
4なってしまいます marks an unwanted result
  • In 違(ちが)う店(みせ)になってしまいます, Chino says adding bunny ears would end up making Rabbit House into a different kind of shop.
  • The polite 〜てしまいます adds the sense that this result would be undesirable or regrettable.

See Also

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