Grammar Info

N2 Lesson 3: 20/23

ない事(こと)には～ないUnless you do something

Structure

Verb［ない］ + ことには + Verb［ない］

［い］Adjective［ない］+ ことには + Verb［ない］

［な］Adjective. + でない + ことには + Verb［ない］

Noun + でない + ことには + Verb［ない］

Details

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About ないことには～ない

ないことには～ない is a 2-part structure in Japanese that is used to express that 'unless you do (A), (B) will not happen or exist'. This is a combination of ない, こと, に, は, and then something followed by ない in the (B) part of the sentence. Literally, it just means 'within the situation of (A) not being a thing, neither will (B)'.

This structure may appear with verbs and い-Adjectives in their ない forms, or nouns followed by でない.

In sentences that use ないことには～ない, (A) can be considered the condition for (B) being able to occur or proceed.

Caution

Occasionally, ないことには will be seen in sentences that do not finish with a word in the negative form. In these cases, ないことには implies that not being in the state of (A) will negatively affect (B). This translates similarly to 'without (A), unfortunately (B)', and often has structures like しまう following (B).

Related

Examples

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    やってみないことには、出来(でき)るかどうか分(わ)からない。

    You won't know if you can do it or not unless you try.

    髭(ひげ)を剃(そ)らないことには、仕事(しごと)に行(い)けない。

    Unless you shave your facial hair, you cannot go to work.

    夫婦(ふうふ)では仲良(なかよ)くしないことには、うまくいかない。

    Unless married couples get along, things won't go well.

    田植(たう)えをしないことには、米(こめ)を収穫(しゅうかく)できません。

    Unless you plant it, you cannot harvest rice.

    退院(たいいん)しないことには、仕事(しごと)復帰(ふっき)できない。

    Unless you are released from the hospital, you cannot return to work.

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      ないことには～ない – Grammar Discussion

      Most Recent Replies (3 in total)

      • FredKore

        FredKore

        Just thinking… Is this point somehow related to なくてはいけない? Sounds like they could be related. Like this…
        ～ないことにはいけない
        ～なくてはいけない

      • Slysoft

        Slysoft

        Am I correct in thinking that this structure could be boiled down to simply ないと?

        For example, the first review sentence is「夫婦では仲良くしないことには、うまくいかない。」but to me, you could just say「夫婦では仲良くしないと、うまくいかない。」and it means the same thing. The second review sentence,「やってみないことには、出来るかどうか分からない。」similarly could be said「やってみないと、出来るかどうかわからない。」and carry the same meaning to me.

        Obviously this isn’t the first or last time there’s many ways to say the same thing, but is this a correct assumption? There was nothing suggesting ないと in the related grammar section of the lesson.

      • wct

        wct

        According to the grammar point for なし, the word/vocab 無し (なし) is equivalent to ない事 (ないこと):

        About なし

        Although it is used almost exclusively as a suffix, なし is actually a noun that means ないこと ‘thing without’. …

        So, that would seem to imply that this grammar point, ないことには～ない, would be equivalent to a similar (identical?) hypothetical grammar point なしには～ない. Is that correct?

        Because when I checked on Jisho, I found several sentences for なしには (sentences), and they all followed the pattern of ending with a negative, i.e. なしには～ない.

        Is this correct, that ないことには～ない is equivalent to なしには～ない (simply because なし is equivalent to ないこと)?

        I...

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