This phrase means 'If it were just this, it would be okay, but...'. You use it to show surprise or complain. You say one thing is fine, but another thing is not.
Noun + ならまだしもPrimary
Clause + ならまだしも
This phrase means 'If it were just this, it would be okay, but...'. You use it to show surprise or complain. You say one thing is fine, but another thing is not.
１、２日の遅れならまだしも、１週間も連絡がないのは問題だ。
A delay of one or two days would be one thing, but having no contact for a whole week is a problem.
料理が少し下手なだけならまだしも、彼は火の扱い方さえ知らないから危ない。
It would be one thing if he were just a little bad at cooking, but he doesn't even know how to handle fire, so it's dangerous.
子供のいたずらならまだしもです。大人がやったとは信じられませんでした。
If it were a child's prank, that would be understandable. But I couldn't believe an adult had done it.
多少の予算超過ならまだしも、倍以上のコストがかかるなど、到底承認できません。
A slight budget overrun would be one thing, but we absolutely cannot approve something that costs more than double.
Tシャツならまだしも、恋人でもないのに高価な指輪をプレゼントするのはおかしいよ。
A T-shirt would be understandable, but it's strange to give an expensive ring to someone who isn't even your partner.
This phrase is like saying, "Okay, maybe that's fine." But then you say, "This other thing is definitely not fine." You are drawing a line. One thing is barely okay. The other is not okay at all.
This is different from "〜ならいざ知らず". "〜ならまだしも" means the first thing is okay. But the second thing is not okay. "〜ならいざ知らず" means you don't care about the first thing. You only care about the second thing.
Don't use this when you want to say something good. For example, you cannot say "If it were just a little cold, that would be fine, and it's a great day for skiing." The part after "ならまだしも" is almost always a complaint. It shows something bad or surprising. The second part of the sentence is the main idea. It explains why the situation is a problem or unexpected.
Often confused with(1)
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