たぶん details
probably + write
tabun kaku
probably; I think — the speaker's best guess, offered with room to be wrong
meaning: probably write
今日はたぶん残業するから、先に食べてて。
kyou wa tabun zangyousuru kara, saki ni tabetete.
I'll probably work late today, so start eating without me. casual
あの店、日曜はたぶん休みだよ。
ano mise, nichiyou wa tabun yasumi da yo.
That shop is probably closed on Sundays. casual
- dictionary form
- i-adjective
- na-adjective
- noun
- alternant
Examples
probably; I think — the speaker's estimate, stated as likely rather than certain
今日はたぶん残業するから、先に食べてて。
kyou wa tabun zangyou suru kara, saki ni tabetete.
I'll probably work late today, so start eating without me. casual
あの店、日曜はたぶん休みだよ。
ano mise, nichiyou wa tabun yasumi da yo.
That shop is probably closed on Sundays. casual
資料は、たぶん明日までに間に合います。
shiryou wa, tabun ashita made ni ma ni aimasu.
The materials will probably make it in time by tomorrow. neutral
この時期の京都は、たぶん人が多いでしょう。
kono jiki no kyouto wa, tabun hito ga ooi deshou.
Kyoto is probably crowded at this time of year. neutral
明日の午後でしたら、たぶん時間が取れます。
ashita no gogo deshitara, tabun jikan ga toremasu.
Tomorrow afternoon I could probably make time. neutral
Formation
たぶん{V}attaches to dictionary formたぶん{I}attaches to i-adjectiveたぶん{NA-stem}だattaches to na-adjectiveたぶん{N}だattaches to noun
Variant notes
- 多分 — the kanji spelling, at home in print; kana is the everyday choice in messages and speech, and careful business writing tends to avoid both in favour of おそらく.
Notes
きっと. Service and business speech swaps in おそらく — たぶん reads too casual
beside 謙譲語.
Related patterns
Similar
でしょう puts the guess in the predicate and can carry a sentence alone; たぶん only modifies one, so it leans on the predicate it marks — and the two stack in the same sentence as a matter of course (たぶん来るでしょう).
たぶん bets on the case the speaker expects, かもしれない names one of several the speaker does not rule out — たぶん来ない forecasts an absence, 来ないかもしれない only warns of it.
Both loosen the speaker's grip on the claim, but そうだ hands responsibility to whoever said it and can be challenged by asking 誰が, while たぶん keeps the guess as the speaker's own and answers only to 何でそう思うの.
きっと commits the speaker to the outcome and is what reassurance is built from (きっと大丈夫); たぶん hedges and leaves the speaker room to be wrong, so it cannot comfort anyone.
たぶん bets on the case the speaker expects, もしかしたら floats the one nobody expects — たぶん来ない treats absence as the working assumption, もしかしたら来るかもしれない keeps a thin chance alive.