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【No. 1119】Arienai (ありえない - I Can't Believe It)

Jan 10, 2018 14:43
Young people these days often say ありえない (arienai) when incredible things happen or they are in trouble.

Originally, ありえない (arienai) is a negative form of ありえる (arieru), which means that something is possible to happen.

Therefore, the original meaning of ありえない (arienai) is that something is impossible to happen or something cannot exist.

If something that cannot happen happens, it will be an incredible thing.

Also, such incredible things can cause a troubling situation.

Because of this, it seems that ありえない (arienai) has come to mean "I can't believe it" or "I'm in trouble."
ありえない

最近の若者は、信じられないことが起きた時や、とても困った状況に陥った時、「ありえない」と言うことがあります。

もともと「ありえない」は、「ありえる」を否定にした言葉です。

このため、「ありえない」の本来の意味は、「起こり得ない」や「存在するはずがない」となります。

「起こり得ないこと」が起こったら、それは「信じられないこと」になります。

そして、「信じられないこと」は、「困った事態」を引き起こす可能性があります。

このことから、「ありえない」は「信じられない」や「困った」の意味で使われるようになったと考えられます。

Corrections (3)

No. 1 Yukinekorin
  • Arienai (ありえない - I Can't Believe It)
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • Young people these days often say ありえない (arienai) when incredible things happen or they are in trouble.
  • Young people these days often say ありえない (arienai) when incredible/unbelievable things happen or when they are in trouble.
  • Originally, ありえない (arienai) is a negative form of ありえる (arieru), which means that something is possible to happen.
  • Originally, ありえない (arienai) is a negative form of ありえる (arieru), which is used to express the possibility of something happening.
  • Therefore, the original meaning of ありえない (arienai) is that something is impossible to happen or something cannot exist.
  • Therefore, the original meaning of ありえない (arienai) is the impossibility of something happening or that something cannot exist.
  • If something that cannot happen happens, it will be an incredible thing.
  • If something that cannot happen happens, it will be something rather incredible/unbelievable.
  • Also, such incredible things can cause a troubling situation.
  • As such, such incredible things may cause troubling situations to arise.
  • Because of this, it seems that ありえない (arienai) has come to mean "I can't believe it" or "I'm in trouble."
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

^^

Toru
It's been a while, Yukinekorin-san :)
Thank you so much for the corrections! (^^)
Yukinekorin
You're welcome ^^ Have a great day! :)
No. 2 Zak
  • Arienai (ありえない - I Can't Believe It)
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • Young people these days often say ありえない (arienai) when incredible things happen or they are in trouble.
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • Originally, ありえない (arienai) is a negative form of ありえる (arieru), which means that something is possible to happen.
  • Originally, ありえない (arienai) was the negative form of ありえる (arieru), which means that something is possible to happen.

    This sentence is a little tricky, because it still is the negative for. But because I think your post is saying the meaning has changed, past tense is okay here.

  • Therefore, the original meaning of ありえない (arienai) is that something is impossible to happen or something cannot exist.
  • Therefore, the original meaning of ありえない (arienai) was that something is impossible to happen or something cannot exist.

    When you use original, it is clear you are talking about the past, so using "is" sounds strange hyere.

  • If something that cannot happen happens, it will be an incredible thing.
  • If something that cannot happen happens, it is an incredible thing.

    When you use "if... happens", in the hypothetical situation the action has already occurred, so you don't use future tense in the "then" portion of the sentence.

  • Also, such incredible things can cause a troubling situation.
  • Also, such incredible things can cause troubling situations.

    I think, "....can cause problematic situations" sounds more natural in this situation.

  • Because of this, it seems that ありえない (arienai) has come to mean "I can't believe it" or "I'm in trouble."
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

Interesting! Thanks!

Toru
Thank you so much for the corrections and helpful comments! (^^)
No. 3 Yun

Thank you very much for explanation.

作り話ーー>

奇跡というのは?

A:あるわけないでしょう
B:ありえないわけではない
C:あるはずだ
D:あるはずなのに..
E:あることはある..

Toru
Thank you for your comment!
Nice, from A to E are all natural Japanese.
By the way, in the lyrics of 奇跡 by コブクロ, there is a sentence something like the following:
奇跡は起こるものじゃない、起こすものなんだ。

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