#かねる
かねる is a piece of grammar that you will find littered in N2 material. This can be confusing sometimes as you’re about to see, but hang in there and we’ll get through this!
- Verb stem + かねる means “cannot deal with” / できない . This is when something is difficult or impossible to do.
- お客様の個人情報は、教えかねます。
- 残念ながら、そのご提案はお受けいたしかねます。
- 彼は留学生活の寂しさに耐えかねて、１年もたたないうちに帰国してしまった。
- Verb stem + かねない means “could”/かもしれない .Used when something that the speakers evaluates as negative might occur.
- そんな乱暴な運転をしたら事故を起こしかねないよ。
- 保護しないと、この種は絶滅しかねない。
- 風邪だからといって放っておくと、大きい病気になりかねない。
- ～をかねる For this last version pay attention that the particle を will precede the verb, also written as 兼ねる with its kanji. This is used to express that one thing serves as two or more functions simultaneously.
- サラさんの送別会をかねて、クラスで懇親会を開いた。
- 休日の朝は平時より遅く起きて、朝食と昼食を兼ねた食事をとる。
- 私は勉強と遊びを兼ねている仕事に就きたい。
I know with かねる and かねない it’s very hard to remember which is which because one means できない and the other means かもしれない . The trick I have when I can’t remember isn’t necessarily a great one, but it works for me.
If you line up かねる and its meaning できない like I did, there is one extra letter い that doesn’t line up. Using that extra letter I then remember it as, “I ( い) can’t do it.” Again, is this a dumb method? Yes. Does it work if you are doing a test/practice test/practice questions and you can’t for the life of you remember which one is which? Also yes.
I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any questions!
