Understanding ～かどうかだ


> 生きるか死ぬかの問題だった。  
>  It was a question of life or death.  
>  飲み水が、一週間分あるかどうかだった。  
>  It was _a question of_ whether or not there was a week's worth of water.

The only way I can make sense of this structure is to assume that 飲み水 is the
subject of ある. I'm parsing it like this:

> [ _問題は_ ] [飲み水が、一週間分あるかどうか] [だった]

The comma, and the lack of the topic is making me think that 飲み水 should pair
up with だった, but I can't make a meaningful parsing if that is the case.

I know it is common to omit the topic and I also know that commas don't serve
the same grammatical purpose as they do in English. I'd just like to check
that my understanding of this sentence is correct.




Conclusion first, the _grammatical_ topic of the second sentence is **not**
問題(は). I know this is unusual, but in this case, adding 問題は at the beginning
of the sentence will dramatically change the meaning of the original sentence!

>   1. 飲み水が一週間分あるかどうかだった。  
>  There was at most only a week's worth of drinking water. / There was
> drinking water that might or might not last for a week. / There was some
> drinking water, but I was not sure it would last even for a week.
>   2. **問題は** 飲み水が一週間分あるかどうかだった。  
>  The problem was whether or not there was a week's worth of drinking water.
>

I think you already know how the second interpretation works. ～かどうか forms an
embedded question, "whether or not ～". I was initially unaware of this, but
the second interpretation would also be perfectly valid in a certain context.
For example, if he knows he will be rescued after a week, and if he has
everything to survive other than drinking water, then the only problem left is
whether or not there is enough water for the next seven days.

But the actual story is not like that, and that's why you asked this question,
right? :) Perhaps he had no idea when he would be rescued; he might have to
wait much longer than a week. Thus the correct interpretation is **1** , and
you must not add 問題は at the beginning for this sentence to work. You have to
be able to interpret this sentence as-is, without adding 問題は.

So, how does the first sentence work?

～かどうかだ or ～かどうかです has a usage that is a bit different from "whether or not ～".
This is a little colloquial and I don't know how to normally translate this,
but the basic idea is something like "may or may not", "fifty-fifty chance",
"not certain yet", "depends on chance", "on the borderline between success and
failure", or such.

Some examples:

>   * ここから富士山は見えるかどうかです。  
>  From here, you can see Mt. Fuji if you are lucky. / Sometimes we can barely
> see Mt. Fuji from here. / There is a chance we can see Mt. Fuji from here.
>   * 彼は合格できるかどうかです。  
>  He is on the borderline between pass and fail.
>   * 急いでいるが、間に合うかどうかだ。  
>  I'm in a hurry, but I may or may not be able to arrive on time.
>

Sorry for the loose translation, but I hope you now understand how to
interpret the original sentence without adding an imaginary topic.

Finally, if we do need to start this sentence with 問題は without largely
changing the original meaning, we can say this:

> 問題は[飲み水が一週間分あるかどうか **だということ** ]だった。  
>  The problem was the fact that I had only a week's worth of drinking water
> (at most).

I simply enclosed the "かどうか" part with a nominalizer(?) だということ.

* * *

(EDIT history: Rewrote almost everything, but my opinion is the same. I hope I
have explained this issue better now.)




Conclusion first, the _grammatical_ topic of the second sentence is **not**
問題(は). I know this is unusual, but in this case, adding 問題は at the beginning
of the sentence will dramatically change the meaning of the original sentence!

>   1. 飲み水が一週間分あるかどうかだった。  
>  There was at most only a week's worth of drinking water. / There was
> drinking water that might or might not last for a week. / There was some
> drinking water, but I was not sure it would last even for a week.
>   2. **問題は** 飲み水が一週間分あるかどうかだった。  
>  The problem was whether or not there was a week's worth of drinking water.
>

I think you already know how the second interpretation works. ～かどうか forms an
embedded question, "whether or not ～". I was initially unaware of this, but
the second interpretation would also be perfectly valid in a certain context.
For example, if he knows he will be rescued after a week, and if he has
everything to survive other than drinking water, then the only problem left is
whether or not there is enough water for the next seven days.

But the actual story is not like that, and that's why you asked this question,
right? :) Perhaps he had no idea when he would be rescued; he might have to
wait much longer than a week. Thus the correct interpretation is **1** , and
you must not add 問題は at the beginning for this sentence to work. You have to
be able to interpret this sentence as-is, without adding 問題は.

So, how does the first sentence work?

～かどうかだ or ～かどうかです has a usage that is a bit different from "whether or not ～".
This is a little colloquial and I don't know how to normally translate this,
but the basic idea is something like "may or may not", "fifty-fifty chance",
"not certain yet", "depends on chance", "on the borderline between success and
failure", or such.

Some examples:

>   * ここから富士山は見えるかどうかです。  
>  From here, you can see Mt. Fuji if you are lucky. / Sometimes we can barely
> see Mt. Fuji from here. / There is a chance we can see Mt. Fuji from here.
>   * 彼は合格できるかどうかです。  
>  He is on the borderline between pass and fail.
>   * 急いでいるが、間に合うかどうかだ。  
>  I'm in a hurry, but I may or may not be able to arrive on time.
>

Sorry for the loose translation, but I hope you now understand how to
interpret the original sentence without adding an imaginary topic.

Finally, if we do need to start this sentence with 問題は without largely
changing the original meaning, we can say this:

> 問題は[飲み水が一週間分あるかどうか **だということ** ]だった。  
>  The problem was the fact that I had only a week's worth of drinking water
> (at most).

I simply enclosed the "かどうか" part with a nominalizer(?) だということ.

* * *

(EDIT history: Rewrote almost everything, but my opinion is the same. I hope I
have explained this issue better now.)

