"can't help but" Grammar Points

Japanese
#1

Hey y’all, I’m wondering if any of you have tips/tricks for remembering all of the various “can’t help but” grammar points? Or maybe even some kind of nuances between them all?
I’ve done the readings for each of these, but I’m still struggling to keep them separate during reviews. There are just so many that I can’t keep them straight.

Any time I get one of these points, I usually have to cycle through a few before I input the correct answer for that sentence, or I just don’t think of the correct one at all and end up letting it be counted wrong. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

For reference, I’m talking about:

  • ～ずにはいられない
  • ～てならない
  • ～ざるを得ない
  • ～ないわけにはいかない
  • ～てたまらない
  • ～てしょうがない
  • etc.
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#2

I’d like to know these better, too.

I do at least know (according to one of my teachers, who is a native speaker) that in terms of formality, it goesしかたがない → しようがない → しょうがない, where しかたがない is the most formal, with しょうがない being the most casual, i.e. 話し言葉.

I can only imagine that ざるを得ない is more formal than all 3 on that spectrum :stuck_out_tongue:

Also, FWIW, しかた is actually 仕方, and しよう is actually 仕様, which are extremely synonymous. I’m tempted to say that しょう is simply a slurring of しよう, somewhat similar to では → じゃ, ておる → とる, and なくては → なきゃ, but I don’t know that for a fact and I’m way too sleepy to check right now…

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#3

I can’t help you, but you’re not alone. These bastards torment me too.

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#4

I knew about 仕方がない and しょうがない being the formal and casual forms respectively, but had only assumed about 仕様がない, so I’m at least glad to have that confirmed! I’ve had the same thought about しよう to しょう, maybe I’ll ask a coworker next time I’m at the school.
And yea all of the hints/readings say that ざるを得ない is formal, so that makes sense.

Now to wait and see if anyone shows up to clarify the rest :rofl:

Feedback - Suggested Improvements/Feature Request
#5

@Kai @Houndstooth @John_Doe @Kai

We will write about that after we finish the weekly batch of grammar points :sunglasses:

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#6

Wait, weekly batch of grammar points? Is Bunpro going to start adding new points weekly?

lol, poor @Kai will never be completely done all the grammar points again. They’ll just keep moving the goal-posts out a little bit every week.

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#7

It’s N1 though! There’s no way I can complain about that :stuck_out_tongue:

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