The Intensifier ～ない

The Intensifier ～ない

Previously, our understanding of how negation works in terms of the morphology became greatly expanded by learning about the traditional auxiliary ～ず and how it manifest in Modern Japanese. In this lesson, our attention will be directed instead towards the morpheme –nai, which for the purpose of this lesson will be spelled italicized in romanization as such so that we can examine its complex etymological relation with an array of words as well as for an array of similar effects.

To get our feet wet slightly with what is to come, consider the following phrases which all utilize –nai but not in the same way.

Phrase	意味	Use of –nai
行かない	Not go	–nai after the 未然形 of a verb to render it in the negative form as an auxiliary verb.
良くない	Not good	–nai after the ku-連用形 of an adjective as a supplementary adjectival ending to denote the adjective’s negative form.
つまらない	Boring	–nai after the 未然形 of a verb to make an adjective.
いけない	Should not	–nai after the 未然形 of the potential form (可能形) of a verb to make an adjective.
勿体ない	A waste	–nai (無い) as in the negative of ある conjoined to another morpheme in an inseparable compound expression.
違いない	Without a doubt	–nai (無い) as in the negative of ある conjoined to another morpheme in a separable compound expression.
忙しない	Restless	–nai after the stem of an adjectival root as an intensifier.
少ない	Few	/nai/ unrelated to any recognizable morphemic rendering of the aforementioned –nai.

Putting aside other possible interpretations of these example words, there is one commonality that they all share: the resulting expressions made with –nai are viewed as one word, which brings on its own grammatical consequences that will also need to be examined.

Verb + –nai → Adjective

This subset of –nai expressions is represented by many phrases such as すまない (sorry) learned early on in Japanese curriculums, but little attention is given to how they function. While it is true that the meaning of a “verb + –nai” resultant adjective are still derived from the literal combination of the main verb and the negative auxiliary ～ない, the resultant meanings are often quite idiomatic, and it is that quality which makes it evident that the phrases ought to be viewed as independent adjectives in their own right.

As mentioned in the introductory table, such adjectives are all derived by attaching –nai to the 未然形 of affected verbs, with some examples deriving from their potential forms.

1. つまらないことで喧嘩した。 (From 詰まる “to be at a loss”)
(We) fought over tedious things.

2. くだらない奴はいつかやられてしまう。 (From 下る “to be less than”)
Worthless chaps will eventually get what they deserve.

3. このままじゃいけないことは分かってるけど、好きだから別れたくない。 (From いける “to be permissible”)
I get that it can’t stay like this, but I don’t want to break up with (them) because I like (them).

4. 産む・産まないにかかわらず、思いがけない¹妊娠に悩む方ならどなたでも相談できます。
If you are someone struggling with an unexpected pregnancy, regardless of whether you do or do not give birth, anyone may consult (with us).

5. お互い意にそぐわない²任務に就いているようですな。
We appear to be serving a function incongruent with our wishes.

6. 皆さんに迷惑をおかけしてしまって居た堪れない³気持ちでいっぱいです。
My heart is full of unbearable lament for the trouble I have caused everyone.

7. 手に負えない⁴猫がやってきたとき、獣医はどう対処すればいい？
When an unmanageable cat arrives, how show the veterinarian handle it?

8. レビヤタンもターニーンも、底知れない海に住む伝説的な巨獣として恐れられていた。
Both the Leviathan and the Tannin were feared as these legendary massive beasts which lived in the bottomless sea.

Any potential literal interpretation would not be viewed as adjectives and would require context to be taken as the negative form of the verb involved. In such situations in which an expression with –nai ought to be taken literally, the word itself will usually be written in Kanji, which is not so much the case for their idiomatic adjectival interpretations.

9. 謝るだけでは済まない。
Apologizing alone won’t cut it.

10. お部屋の加湿をしっかり行い、就寝中に鼻が詰まらないようにしましょう。
Be sure to properly humidify your room and make sure that your nose does not clog up while you are sleeping.

11. 要は坂を下らないといけないことです。 
The point is you must go down the slope.

Inseparable Compounds

The next subset of –nai expressions to look at are those that function as single-word adjectives whose initial morpheme(s) is not the 未然形 of a verb. These phrases can be further characterized by whether –nai is often spelled in Kanji. Some breakdowns are often obscured by spelling.

12. この人幼い⁵な。
This person sure is immature.

13. 一人の男が、椅子に凭れてだらしなく⁶寝そべっている。
One man is reclining on a chair, slovenly stretched out asleep.

14. 味気ない⁷かもしれないが、スパイシーな政治に飽き飽きした国民の味覚テストには合格する。
This may be tasteless (of me to say), but I passed the taste test of our citizens who are tired of spicy politics.

15. プライドが高いタイプの人が、仕事などで情けない状況に陥ったとき、どのようにして立ち直るんだろうか？ 
How do people who have a lot of pride recover when they find themselves in a pathetic situation at work or elsewhere?

16. 自分がつまらない人間に思えて遣る瀬⁸無い気持ちになってしまった。
I ended up having these wretched emotions over seeing myself as this unimportant person.

17. それによって顧客の心に揺るぎない忠誠心を根付かせることができる。
Thereby, you can ingrain unwavering loyalty into the hearts of your customers.

18. 全くもって不甲斐⁹ない結果となってしまった。
The results ended up being utterly worthless.

19. 硝子の球なんかガラス屋へ行けば訳ない¹⁰じゃないか。
Couldn’t you just as easily find a glass ball by going to a glass shop?
From 『吾輩は猫である』by 夏目漱石.

20. 絶対的な正義を求めれば必ず、果てしない戦争を招く。
If you seek absolute justice, you will certainly beckon endless war.

21. 事故現場の残骸は見るに忍びない。
The wreckage at the site of the accident painful to look at.

As for when –nai may be seen written in Kanji as 無い, this is largely based on to what degree speakers still recognize –nai as being the negative form of ある and as a separate morpheme from what precedes it. If those criteria are met, then it is a matter of preference, with Kanji being preferred in highly formal, stylized writing.

Separable Compounds

Meanwhile, there are examples of adjectival compounds made with –nai in which the morpheme boundary is more clearly recognized, and in such instances, intervening particles such as が・の are commonplace, while for other examples, the substitution of –nai for the polite ありません may also be possible though often controversially.

■Intervening が・の in when –nai is in the 連体形

When these adjectival compounds made with –nai allow for intervening が・の for emphatic effect, they seemingly no longer function as a single word but instead as a typical case of noun + a predicate constituted by –nai. Indeed, this is observable for even some of the example words previously shown (Ex. 20 vs. Ex. 23).

22. 他愛¹¹（の）ない会話も全てが愛しい。
Even everything about (our) silly conversations are dear (to me).

23. 果てし（の）ない戦争状態であった。
It was a boundless state of war.

■-nai → ありません

Much change has occurred with the acceptance of switching out –nai for ありません in these grammaticalized single-word adjectives made with –nai, even since the turn of the 21st century. First, let’s look at the following chart which ranks example phrases based on the acceptance of their use with ありません.

Meaning	–nai	–arimasen
Inexcusable	申し訳ない ◎	申し訳ありません ◎
Undoubtable	違いない ◎	違いありません ◎
Unavoidable	仕方ない ◎	仕方ありません 〇
Endless	果てしない ◎	果てしありません ？
Unseemly	みっともない ◎	みっともありません △
Outrageous	とんでもない ◎	とんでもありません X
Impossible/unthinkable	あられもない12 ◎	あられもありません XX

The array of acceptance seen from this small sample of words presents several other questions, but first, let’s consider why 申し訳ありません and 違いありません are particularly accepted by all speakers unlike the rest.

One thing that can be said about these words is how their definitions may be easily altered to reflect a grammatical breakdown in which –nai is the predicate as opposed to the phrase as a whole. Meaning, rather than treating 申し訳ありません as “inexcusable,” one would treat it as “there is/have no excuse.”

24. 楽しみにされていた方々には申し訳（が）ありません。
We apologize to everyone who was looking forward (to this).

25. 私は訳もなく泣けてきて仕方（が）ありませんでした。
It couldn’t be helped that I found myself crying for no reason.

Following this logic at first glance seems unproblematic for 仕方ない, given how 仕方がありません is accepted – with 仕方 being treated as the subject “use” to bring about the sense of “there is no use.” Yet, the lower ranking of 〇 > ◎ is made by viewing all its usages in totality. It is also possible to see 仕方ない used in the sense of “hopeless” when referring to people, and in that circumstance, the substitution of ない for ありません is not as acceptable.

26. 僕のことを仕方ない人だなあと笑い飛ばしているのだろうか。
Are (they) trying to laugh me off as some hopeless person?

Even so, if the issue at hand is whether or not one should use ありません to create the polite negative form of an adjectivalized phrase, then alternative solutions would need to be proposed so that words such as みっともない and とんでもない may still somehow be represented in politer speech registers.

The primary solution by speakers is to follow these adjectives with a nominalizer -の・こと・もの – then add です, but this also unintentionally hinges on the intuition that です following the 終止形 of adjectives is ungrammatical, which has all but entirely been lost in modern speech, and also downplays other outstanding grammatical circumstances which would warrant the use of a particular nominalizer (Exs. 27-28). On the one hand, simply adding です is, in practice, not frowned upon at all provided that a nominalizer need not be necessary.

27. 家の愚痴を言うことはみっともないことなんですよね。
Idly complaining about one’s household is a shameful thing to do, you see?

28. どんな言い訳でもみっともないのですが、「やろうと思った」という言い訳はよりみっともないのです。
Any matter of excuse would be shameful, but the excuse of “I thought about doing it” is all the more shameful.

29. 食事中に音を立てるのはみっともないです。
Making noise while eating is indecent.

Here, then, lies the problem: what is –nai on the basis of part of speech, and how does that matter here? If a speaker can perceptualize –nai as being separate from the preceding morpheme and internalizes –nai to be the negative form of ある as opposed to possessing an “un-“-like function in an adjectival phrase, one will expect that said speaker will accept the use of ありません.

30. 人類文化向上のための未踏の境は果てしありません。
(These) unexplored frontiers which serve to promote the culture of mankind are endless.

One caveat, however, exists, which not only prevents the switching out of –nai for ありません but also the grander utilization of the adjective as a fully functioning adjective. If a –nai adjective becomes lexicalized as a fixed expression, it may then go on to become a 連体詞 of sorts, with usually only its 連用形 functionality remaining. Such is the case for あられもない, which is labeled as being especially incorrect (XX) with ありません.

31. あいつは今、あられもない姿を晒していると聞いているぞ。
I hear that that guy is currently exposing himself indecently at this moment.

When Morphology becomes subjective

As for why みっともありません, and similar examples as seen above, appear on occasion, though less controversially than the likes of とんでもありません (see below) do truly hinge on this notion of whether –nai is divisible in the mind of the speaker from the rest of the phrase. If any morphological clue can be had to make that happen, all the better. The mild acceptance of みっともありません, must then be attributable to such a dynamic. Indeed, it can be attributed to the contraction 見たくもない → みっともない at play being readily obvious, especially to speakers of Western Japanese dialects. Though, to play the devil’s advocate, corrupted word forms due to the supposed loss of understanding its morphological roots beg to differ as to how obvious this sound change is.

32. 人間の糟
かすから牛と馬が出来て、牛と馬の糞から猫が製造されたごとく考えるのは、自分の無智に心付かんで高慢な顔をする教師などにはありがちの事でもあろうが、はたから見てあまり見っともいい者じゃない。
Thinking that cows and horses are made up of the junk left by people and that cats are constructed from the excrement of cows and horses may very well be common among stuck-up teachers who, ignorant of their ignorance, objectively are of no real importance when judged from the outside.
From 『吾輩は猫である』by 夏目漱石.

The Grammaticality of とんでも｛ありません・ございません｝

What, then, ought to be said of とんでもありません? It, as well as the humble form とんでもございません, are used by a growing majority of speakers, forcing scholars to reconsider why and how it came about.

The argument that both forms are ungrammatical due to とんでもない being lexicalized as an adjective is historically substantiated only to the extent that at one point one could say the average person viewed とんでもない as a single word with no clear understanding of its etymological and/or morphological breakdown. This can be retrospectively verified by how although it is likely the case that とん derives from 途, in what manner it became incorporated into とんでもない remains unclear¹³, and even so, this is not its only possible origin¹⁴.

Yet, while the actual etymology of the phrase is at question, its morphological breakdown is not so much in question. Regardless of what とん literally stands for, も is clearly the particle も and ない is clearly –nai. When a speaker does view the substitution of ありません・ございません as being valid, –nai‘s existence as the polite negative form of ある is most certainly at play. However, if とんでもない instead derives from とんだ, that would render –nai as the intensifier suffix –nai, the mysterious overarching focus of the lesson to be discussed next, rendering these new polite forms invalid.

Another aspect yet mentioned is the semantic argument for why とんでも｛ありません・ございません｝ are valid as opposed to the syntactical argument against their validity. Though the core definition of とんでもない is “outrageous” in a rather negative tone, when used as an interjection, it is often used in the sense of “oh, it’s nothing/don’t mention it/not at all!” and just as how the English equivalents are used, the expression is clearly used lightheartedly to reject that something is such a big deal. Some may argue that depicting a scenario serious to the listener as not being so goes against the grain in terms of how honorific speech should be carried out. Nonetheless, the sheer lack of malice intent, if not the extension of relief had by the speaker to the listener by using this phrase, prevents this from being a practical excuse against their use.

This, though, causes us to view とんでもない in terms of what the circumstance at hand is. If it is being used in its literal interpretation of “outrageous/unthinkable,” the grammaticality of とんでも｛ありません・ございません｝ significantly drops. If とんでもない is being used in response to being thanked, the grammaticality of とんでも｛ありません・ございません｝is much higher, but the purportedly grammatical sound replacements とんでもないこと｛です・でございます｝ score less in naturalness these days than them.

With all this in mind, provided that it can be reasonably understood that とんでも｛ありません・ございません｝are being used as a fixed, polite response to being thanked, it appears as though it will continue to gain support as the years go by.

33. いいえ、とんでもありません！これも先生方のご指導の賜物です！
No, don’t mention it! This, too, is the fruit of my teachers’ instruction!

34. とんでもございません。いかなる時でも喜んでご主人様の望みにお応えいたします。
This is no bother at all. If you, master, so desire at any moment, I shall gladly meet your wishes.

The Suffix –nai

At long last, we shall now direct our attention to the suffix –nai, which at first glance seemingly has no etymological ties to the other meanings of –nai discussed so far. This is presumably true, which is evident from various word pairs in which the one with –nai is clearly the most emphatic.

The most classic example of this is 忙（せわ）しい vs 忙（せわ）しない. While both forms mean “restless,” there is an odd difference between the two. 忙しい is more objective than 忙しない, though the consequence in nuance by this may vary wildly between speakers.

35. セスはせわしい人だね。
Seth sure is a busybody. 

36. 帰宅途中の車や人が忙しなく行き来していた。
Cars, people, and the like in transit home hurriedly came and went.

Another great example is 切なる vs 切ない. 切なる means “earnest,” and it is an example of a 連体詞 derived from an adjective in Classical Japanese which did not retain its conjugational capacity, thus why る has never been dropped. Meanwhile, it has also maintained its emphatic form 切ない, which instead translates to “heartrending/suffocating,” which notably has strong negative undertones.

37. 被造物は、実に、切なる思いで神の子たちの出現を待ち望んでいる。
For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
From “Romans 8:19.”

38. 男性でも恋をすると切ない気持ちでモヤモヤしたり、四六時中相手のことを思い浮かんだりするんですか？
Do men also feel pint-up with heartrending feelings and think about their partner at every waking moment?

Now, let’s look at how –nai may appear to be both an intensifier and the negation marker –nai by considering the difference between 滅相な and 滅相もない. Both iterations translate as “absurd,” with 滅相 deriving from a Buddhist expression referring to the “stage at which one disappears = dies” used metaphorically here as an absurd situation which ought not be the case at present. If –nai were to be viewed as the negation marker –nai, 滅相もない could be viewed as rather ironically meaning “anything but absurd (it’s so absurd),” but the simpler and more likely take is that –nai is the intensifier –nai given that there is no true semantic difference between the two forms.

39. そんな滅相な話は信じられません。
I cannot possibly believe such an absurdity!

40. お礼をいただくなんて滅相もないことです。
How absurd it would be of me to accept thanks.

Next, let’s look at an array of phrases created with the intensifier –nai, which for whatever reason, do not have an accompanying word pair that excludes it. Note, that, due to the affinity this suffix has with the negative marker –nai, some words which are already negative in implication will be perceived very emphatically so.

41. ご好意のほど誠に忝く存じます。
I sincerely thank you for your kind favor.

42. 主人公は呆気なく死んでしまった。
The protagonist ended up dying all too soon.

43. 由利子のあどけない頬が忽ち紅くなった。
Yuriko’s cherubic cheeks instantly turned red.

44. このようにはしたない姿で大変申し訳ありません。
I truly apologize for my disgraceful appearance that you see.

Even given all the oddities that we have seen throughout this lesson, more are still out there, with Ex. 45 being a primary example of how the negation marker –nai, conversely, appears to be synonymous with the intensifier –nai due to there being no true difference in meaning other than the angle from which the danger is described.

45a. 法廷速度を守らないのは危険極まる行動だ。
45b. 法廷速度を守らないのは危険極まりない行動だ。
Not obeying the speed limit is an extremely dangerous behavior.

The thought behind 極まりない is describing the extent to which the situation is true cannot possibly be described, but 極まる itself already indicates a situation which has already reached an extreme.

Even still, there are some phrases whose etymology remain enigmas, and in the case of words like えげつない meaning ” vulgar/nasty,” whether the –nai itself is derived from the negation marker –nai or the intensifier –nai may never be known definitively¹⁵.

46. 会社で不正やえげつない行為を繰り返している人がいます。
There is this person at my job who repeatedly commits improper and nasty conduct.

One Final Oddity

Though the intensifier –nai is not etymologically related to negation auxiliaries, there is one case of the latter ultimately becoming interpreted as the former: that being the word 怪しからん. Though literally a negative form of the Classical Japanese adjective 怪し・異（け）し meaning “to be strange,” 怪しからん quickly took on the meaning of “monstruous/outrageous/scandalous,” which is an empathetic validation of the affirmative as opposed to actual negation.

47. 親切に扱ってくれた人の不満をほざくなんて怪しからん。
How outrageous it is to complain about those who’ve treated you so kindly!

参照
「とんでもありません(とんでもございません)」という言い方は，とんでもない？

1. Deriving from 思いをかける meaning “to have deep feelings for.” ↩︎
2. The base verb そぐう, written in Kanji as 類う, is hardly used outside of its negative form, which is internalized by natives today as an adjective. ↩︎
3. 居た堪れない originates from 居る (to be) + 堪る (to endure) with an epenthetic た, but while the modern form utilizes the potential form of this construct, the traditional rendition is actually 居た堪らない, which although fallen out of use may still be encountered, as the two forms were used interchangeably throughout the Edo Period. ↩︎
4. Though made up of several morphemes, this expression cannot be used in another form of the verb itself, and it is restricted to adjectival morphology. ↩︎
5. The combination of 長（おさ）＋-nai with /wosa/, the base morpheme being used, with a presumed original meaning of “age.” One thing that is often overlooked about this expression is that it can either mean “young” or “the state of acting childish.” ↩︎
6. だらし in this expression is an metathesized rendition しだら, which itself has an unknown etymology, which may also explain its various implications as to how one is “loose/slovenly.” ↩︎
7. The spelling 味気ない is an example of Ateji, with the phrase deriving from its earlier form あづきなし, which had a base meaning of “for something to not turn out the way one thought.” Perhaps due to its Ateji spelling, rather than having a meaning of “uninspiring,” which is closest to its traditional usage, it is often used to mean “bland/savorless.” ↩︎
8. 遣る in this expression pertains to clearing one’s mind with 瀬 being used metaphorically as the place in which one is channeling said thoughts. ↩︎
9. The more proper spelling of this word is 腑甲斐ない, indicating the lack of will in one’s guts. ↩︎
10. Not to be confused with わけがない, which is different at the predicate level. The adjective 訳無い ought to be viewed as meaning “easy” in the sense of being “meaninglessly” easy with no hassle involved. ↩︎
11. The spelling 他愛 is Ateji, with たわい itself being akin to “prudence/discretion.” たあい is viewed as a common mispronunciation based on the Ateji spelling. ↩︎
12. あられもない is a rare instance of the use of あられる, the potential form of ある (to be), combined with –nai to describe an unfathomable situation. ↩︎
13. Though most likely derived from the use of 途 seen in similar phrases such as 途方もない meaning “outrageous/preposterous,” 途 may also alternatively refer to “method” here. ↩︎
14. Alternatively, とんでもない may derive from とんだ, a 連体詞 derived from 飛んだ which also has the meaning of “outrageous.” ↩︎
15. えげつない potentially derives from an archaic dialectal form of 意気地なし (to be cowardice), but it may also derive from the Eastern Japanese dialect word えぐい meaning “harsh/biting.” ↩︎