ところが
however / unexpectedly
ところが is a conjunction placed at the beginning of a sentence. It introduces a development that runs against what the previous sentence led you to expect, like English “however” or “but then, to my surprise”.
It is stronger than a plain “but”: the sentence before it sets up an expectation, and the sentence after it reports the surprising reality.
An unexpected turn of events
State what was expected or planned, end the sentence, then open the next one with ところが.
ピクニックに行くつもりだった。ところが、雨が降り出した。
“We planned to go on a picnic. However, it started raining.”
- ピクニック = picnic
- に = destination marker
- 行く（いく）= to go
- つもりだった = planned to, intended to
- ところが = however
- 雨（あめ）= rain
- が = subject marker
- 降り出した（ふりだした）= started to fall
簡単だと思っていた。ところが、とても難しかった。
“I thought it would be easy. However, it was very difficult.”
- 簡単（かんたん）= easy, simple
- だと思っていた（だとおもっていた）= thought that it was
- ところが = however
- とても = very
- 難しかった（むずかしかった）= was difficult
How to form it
Sentence A (expectation)。ところが、sentence B (surprising reality)。 — a fixed expression that never conjugates.
- 勝つと思った（かつとおもった）= I thought we would win → ところが、負けた（ところが、まけた）= however, we lost
- 安いと思った（やすいとおもった）= I thought it was cheap → ところが、高かった（ところが、たかかった）= however, it was expensive
Key idea
ところが announces that reality went the opposite way from what was expected: “but then, to everyone's surprise ...”.
Built on the same stem
Updated .