〜に堪えない (~ni taenai) — too awful to ~ / unbearable to ~
So bad you can't bear to watch, hear or read it — a harsh verdict on something outside you.
Formula (सूत्र ढाँचा)
Grammar rule (व्याकरण नियम र परिभाषा)
When to use it
- Before an election, watching candidates insult each other on TV, people say: 「聞くに堪えない」— 'I can't bear to listen, it's that bad.'
- It is a stiff word, but set phrases like 「見るに堪えない」「聞くに堪えない」are heard both in the news and in daily talk.
Meaning
「堪（た）える」means 'to endure, to hold up', so 「〜に堪えない」says the thing (a video, someone's words, an article) is so bad, cruel or vulgar that you can't bear to watch, hear or read it.
How to attach
- It attaches to the dictionary form of only a few verbs — 見る・聞く・読む (見るに堪えない) — or to a few nouns like 「鑑賞」「正視」.
- There is also the positive opposite 「〜に堪える」: 「大人の鑑賞にも堪える映画」= a film good enough even for adults to watch.
Versus what you know
N2Don't confuse it with the 「〜てたまらない」(暑くてたまらない): that is your own unbearable bodily or mental feeling, while 「に堪えない」judges the quality of something outside you as 'not fit to be endured'.
Watch out
You cannot say 「足が痛くて歩くに堪えない」; say 「痛くて歩けない」.
Also
The 'can't contain my feeling' use, as in 「感謝に堪えません」, is a different one — we learn it in a later lesson.
Examples (उदाहरणहरू)
選挙前の候補者同士の悪口の言い合いは、聞くに堪えない。
せんきょまえのこうほしゃどうしのわるぐちのいいあいは、きくにたえない。
The candidates' mudslinging before the election is unbearable to listen to.
How it is built (कसरी बन्यो) 悪口の言い合い = trading insults → 聞く = to listen (dictionary form) → attach 「に堪えない」 = so bad you can't bear to listen.
事故現場の映像はあまりにひどく、見るに堪えないものだった。
じこげんばのえいぞうはあまりにひどく、みるにたえないものだった。
The footage of the accident scene was so terrible it was unbearable to watch.
How it is built (कसरी बन्यो) 事故現場の映像 = footage of the accident scene → あまりにひどく = far too terrible (the reason) → 見る + 「に堪えない」 = can't bear to watch → 「ものだった」 = it was.
ネットのコメント欄には、読むに堪えない言葉が並んでいる。
ネットのコメントらんには、よむにたえないことばがならんでいる。
The online comment section is full of words too vile to read.
How it is built (कसरी बन्यो) コメント欄 = comment section → 読む + 「に堪えない」 = can't bear to read → then the noun: 言葉 (words) → 並んでいる = are lined up (it's full of them).
Knowledge check (मिनी ज्ञान जाँच)
「下品な番組で、とても見＿＿堪えない。」— fill the blank.
💡 Hint: Which verb form + に?
Dictionary form + に堪えない. 見るに堪えない = unbearable to watch.
In which sentence is 「に堪えない」unnatural?
💡 Hint: Judging what you see/hear/read, or bodily pain?
に堪えない only goes with a few verbs like 見る・聞く・読む, to say something outside you is awful. When your leg hurts too much to walk, say 「痛くて歩けない」.
To say 'this article is so bad I can't bear to read it': 「この記事はひどくて、＿＿。」
💡 Hint: The quality of something outside you is 'not bearable'.
読むに堪えない = too awful to read. 「てたまらない」is only for your own feelings (読んでたまらない is not said), 「に足る」= worthy (the opposite), 「にかたくない」only goes with mind words like 想像.
Your score: /3