Grammar Info

N2 Lesson 9: 18/23

～てならないVery, Extremely, Can't help but do

Structure

Verb［て］+ ならない
［い］Adjective［て］+ ならない
［な］Adjective + で + ならない

Details

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    Formal

  • Rare Kanji

    成らない

About てならない

てならない is a construction made up of the て-form of a verb or adjective (で for な-Adjectives), and the negated form of the う-Verb なる, 'to become'. This expression describes the word that is attached to it as being 'extremely (A)', or that one 'can't help but do (A)'.

In most cases, てならない will be used when (A) is something that occurs naturally, such as feelings. Due to this, a more literal translation is close to 'to not be able to move on from (A)'. In this way, it just indicates that (A) is so intense that the person affected by it cannot do anything about it.

Caution

In addition to being spontaneous and uncontrollable, (A) will almost always be something that is ongoing, rather than just being momentary.

Synonyms

Related

Examples

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    詐欺(さぎ)にあった気(き)がしてならない。

    I can't help but feel it was a scam.

    あんなコレクションは無駄(むだ)に思(おも)えてならない。

    I cannot help but think that that collection is worthless.

    去年(きょねん)あなたと見(み)た紅葉(こうよう)が思(おも)い出(だ)されてならない。

    I can't help but remember the fall colors I saw with you last year.

    この毛皮(けがわ)は暑(あつ)くてならない。

    This fur is extremely warm. (I can't help but feel...)

    明日(あした)の見学(けんがく)が楽(たの)しみでならない。

    I can't help but look forward to tomorrow's field trip.

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てならない – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (10 in total)

  • simias

    simias

    I’m really confused by this point because I don’t really understand the underlying concept of the Japanese construction.

    To take one of the examples discussed previously here:

    詐欺にあった気がしてならない。

    I think that a very literal word-for-word translation would be something like “it can’t become that I feel that it was a fraud” or something like that, but this seems to imply the opposite of what it actually means.

    I actually first encountered this point outside of Bunpro in a videogame I was playing, and I had to look it up here because I couldn’t make sense of it even in context since it seemed to say the opposite of what it’s actually saying.

    I don’t get where this negative is coming from and how this expression came to mean that.

  • nekoyama

    nekoyama

    I don’t think this works as a literal translation, the two parts aren’t linked in this fashion.

  • simias

    simias

    Yeah I noticed that dictionaries would have a separate item specifically for this use, but it’s quite funny as a result because it seems like the word says one thing and its opposite:

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