At a glance
Noun でなくてなんだろう is a rhetorical question meaning "if this is not X, what else could it be?" The speaker strongly insists that something is X. It is literary and is used in writing and speeches.
Noun + でなくてなんだろう
これが愛でなくてなんだろう。 If this isn't love, what is?
How to form it
| Attaches to | Form | Example | Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noun | N + でなくてなんだろう | 愛でなくてなんだろう | Written, literary |
| Noun | N + でなくてなんだろうか | 奇跡でなくてなんだろうか | Written, literary |
| Noun | N + でなくてなんであろう | 運命でなくてなんであろう | Very literary |
| Noun | N + でなくてなんでしょう(か) | 芸術でなくてなんでしょうか | Polite, speeches |
- でなくて: the て-form of でない, "is not".
- なん: 何 "what". It is often written in kanji: 何だろう.
- だろう: conjecture, used here as a rhetorical question.
Literally: "not being X, what would it be?" The answer is clearly "it is X."