とも～とも言えない・
Something sits between two descriptions, and you can't call it either. ともつかない is literary: how novels describe a look, a voice or a color. とも言えない is also said, in careful speech.
ともつかない
The sky had turned a color somewhere between blue and gray.
とも言えない
The chair's remarks were guarded: you couldn't call them support, or opposition either.
ともつかない
A とも + B ともつかない（+ noun）
Usually straight before the noun it describes: 色, 声, 表情, 返事.
とも言えない
A とも + B とも言えない
と言えない with も: you can't say it is A, or B either.
- A and B
- Two names the thing might go by, mostly nouns: two colors, 冗談 and 本気, 賛成 and 反対.
- In conversation
- 冗談なのか本気なのか分からない.
In use
His reply was vague, neither clearly a yes nor a no.
The sound had a strange ring to it: it might have been a flute, it might have been a bird.
For years the two of them went on as something you couldn't call friendship, or love either.
どちらとも言えない and 何とも言えない
These two are everyday speech: a question word stands in for A and B. どちらとも言えない is "I can't say either way", the middle box on a questionnaire. 何とも言えない is "I can't say".
The questionnaire has three answers: "yes", "no" and "can't say either way".
Until the results are in, I can't say anything yet.
Close neighbours
Spoken: you try two words and keep both. With ともつかない, neither one will do.
Those two are friends, or colleagues, or something in between. It's an odd relationship.
Other pairs that name two things
なり～なりN1
Offers options: "A, or B, or something". Advice, a request or your own plan follows.
Please reply by phone, by email, whichever suits you.
Says it makes no difference: "whether A or B". Written, firm.
Student or working adult, everyone must follow this library's rules.
といい～といいN1
Gives two grounds for one verdict: "the A, the B, all good", or all bad.
The location, the service: you can't fault this hotel.
Means everywhere, or at all hours: "A, B, all over".
The children came home covered in mud: faces, arms, everywhere.
だの～だのN1
Sounds fed up: "A, B, on and on", what someone keeps saying. Spoken.
The guest went on and on: the room was small, the view was bad, and so on.
Check yourself
1What does this mean?
彼は、
Choose an answer to see why.
2The same word goes in both blanks.
賛成
Choose an answer to see why.
More detail
With 言わない it is "won't say either way". Verbs come before it freely.
He didn't say whether he was going or not.
海のものとも山のものともつかない is a set phrase for something too new to judge.
It is too early to say what will become of this venture.
More sentences
This work has a form all its own, somewhere between a novel and an essay.
The shadowy shape in the distance could have been a person or a tree.
This piece has a sound of its own, neither quite jazz nor quite classical.
His expression was hard to read: you couldn't call it a smile, or a wry smile either.