どうにも～ないnothing to be done; just can't
Whatever you try, it won't come right: "there is nothing to be done", "I just can't". People say it and write it, usually with a sigh.
Once the relationship has soured this badly, there is nothing I can do about it on my own.
I follow the reasoning, but his attitude is the one thing I just can't accept.
How to form it
どうにも + a negative
どうにもならない, "nothing can be done", is the commonest. Otherwise a negative potential (できない, 眠れない, 直せない) or a verb for what is out of your hands (分からない, 止まらない). Other words can come in between. どうにもこうにも is stronger.
- Said about
- A situation nobody can fix, or something in yourself you can't get past.
- Where you'll meet it
- Conversation, novels, essays and the news alike. One to use.
In use
The road is completely under water, and there is nothing we can do for now.
However many times I reread it, this one passage I just can't make sense of.
We are so short-handed that there is simply nothing more we can do.
どうにもこうにも: the same, with more force.
どうしても and どうにか
I couldn't get to sleep last night, however hard I tried.
Try as you might: the weight is on the effort. The commoner of the two.
I just couldn't get to sleep last night.
Nothing to be done: the weight is on the dead end. More of a sigh.
どうしても also goes with a refusal or a wish: どうしても行かない, "won't go, whatever you say"; どうしても行きたい, "want to go no matter what". どうにも stays with what you can't do anything about.
どうにか is one kana away and means the opposite: "somehow or other".
There are still three days. It'll work out somehow.
Close neighbours
どうしてもN3
"Whatever I do": the everyday "just can't". With something that just happens it is also "can't help".
Before a test I can't help getting nervous.
どうしようもないN2
Much the same as どうにもならない: nothing can be done. On a verb stem, ようがない says the means are missing.
It's no use regretting it now.
Check yourself
1What does this mean?
電車が
Choose an answer to see why.
2Which one fits?
今年こそ、
Choose an answer to see why.
More detail
Without a negative, どうにも is "really", about something that bothers you and won't go away: どうにも困った, どうにも気になる.
The noise from the next room really bothers me.
More sentences
The evidence doesn't agree, so for now there is just no explaining it.
I tried replacing the parts, but I simply could not get this old machine running.
However many times I change the settings, this connection problem is the one thing I just can't fix.
The conditions are too complicated, and under the present system there is simply no way for us to deal with them.