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兄さんが私の相手をするはずなんてないもの。

I couldn't understand the above sentence properly, especially the なんてないもの part.

I have looked for the meaning of 相手をする that can be translated as keep someone company or to take notice, and in my interpretation of the sentence would be "paying attention".

ないもの literally would be something that doesn't exist.

So, can I translate the sentence as follow:

"It would have been asking for the impossible for my brother to pay attention to me."

Thank you for the guidance.

Amanda Zhang
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    Highly related: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2240/ending-sentence-with-%ef%bd%9e%e3%81%a0%e3%82%82%e3%81%ae-or-%ef%bd%9e%e3%81%a7%e3%81%99%e3%82%82%e3%81%ae –  Oct 25 '19 at 02:37
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    `ないもの literally would be something that doesn't exist.` ← Nope.　もの does not mean "thing" in this context. –  Oct 25 '19 at 02:40
  • Could it be もの in the sentence mean a person? – Amanda Zhang Oct 25 '19 at 02:45
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    No. Please read the linked Q&A. もの is a sentence-ending particle in this context. –  Oct 25 '19 at 02:53

1 Answers1

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兄さんが私の相手をするはずなんてないもの。
There is no way my brother would pay attention to me, you know.

This is a combination of the following three grammar points:

So the simpler version of this sentence is 兄さんが私の相手をするはずがない. From this, が was replaced by なんか to add negative emotion, and もの was added to add the nuance of "you know" or "you see".

naruto
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  • Thank you so much, I got a good lesson from you. なんて is really a tricky word, I never thought of はずがない since なんて was in between. – Amanda Zhang Oct 26 '19 at 16:58