〜てならない can't help feeling: Meaning & Examples

How 〜てならない works

試験の結果が心配でならない is “I can’t stop worrying about the exam results.” Attach it to the て-form of an adjective, or to a noun or な-adjective with で. Its territory is emotion and thought — worry, longing, sadness, the nagging sense that something is off — rather than the physical sensations that 〜てたまらない handles.

構文こうぶんConstruction

• い-adjective (て-form) + ならない

  祖父のことが懐かしくてならない。 — I miss my grandfather terribly.

• な-adjective / noun + でならない

  将来が不安でなりません。 — I can’t stop feeling anxious about the future.

• Spontaneous verbs: 〜思えてならない ・ 〜気がしてならない

  何か忘れているような気がしてならない。 — I can’t shake the feeling I’ve forgotten something.

例文れいぶんIn a sentence

注意点ちゅういてんNuances

• You are reporting that you cannot suppress it. 思えて and 気がして sit naturally in front of it for the same reason: they already mean something occurs to you unbidden.
• It is more written and more emotional than 〜てたまらない, which is the one you want for heat, hunger, sleepiness and other bodily states.
• Plain action verbs do not fit. ×食べてならない is not this pattern — you need an adjective or a verb of spontaneous feeling in front of it.
• It describes your own feelings. To say it about someone else, add ようだ or らしい: 彼は心配でならないようだ.

練習れんしゅうYour Turn

Tip

Name two things you cannot stop worrying about and one suspicion that keeps nagging at you, using 〜でならない and 〜気きがしてならない.

〜てならない (can't help feeling) in real sentences

Each one is quoted from a published Japanese text in this library and links to the story it came from. Some use older spellings, or break off where the sentence carried on. They are transcribed exactly as their authors wrote them.

Appears in 6 of 367 texts in our library.