日本語道場
Nihongo Dojo — N3 → N2
N3
~ことだろう
~koto darou
I bet, surely
When to use it
Use ~ことだろう in written or formal spoken Japanese to voice a confident inference about something you can't directly verify — how a client feels, how a market will move, how much effort a team put in. It carries more emotional weight and rhetorical polish than ~だろう alone, so it suits reports, speeches, and carefully worded email rather than casual chat. It pairs naturally with さぞ, きっと, and どんなに (the latter giving an exclamatory "how ~ it must be!" reading).
Formation
Examples
The people on site must have had a very hard time of it.
Competition will surely grow even fiercer next term.
The client is no doubt bewildered by the sudden spec change.
If we land the order, imagine how the office will erupt.
On these terms, the price negotiations will surely drag on.