ことはないno need to; you don't have to
You tell someone there's no need to do something: worry, apologize, hurry, go that far. It reassures. It doesn't forbid.
The mistake can be fixed, so there's no need to feel so down.
How to form it
Verb in the dictionary form + ことはない
Polite ことはありません. In casual talk は often drops: 気にすることないよ.
- Before it
- What the other person is doing or about to do, usually too much of it: 心配する, 謝る, 急ぐ, 気にする, 泣く. Often with そんなに or 何も.
- Said to
- The person you are talking to. It comes from someone on their side: a friend, a colleague, a parent, a doctor. To someone above you it is the polite form, taking the blame off them: 部長が謝ることはありませんよ.
- Tone
- Kind. You are taking a weight off, and a reason usually comes with it.
- Where you'll meet it
- Conversation. The polite ことはありません at work too.
In use
What if I mess up at tomorrow's meeting?
You're well prepared, so there's no need to worry so much.
The deadline is next week, so there's no need to finish everything tonight.
There's no need to give up on the proposal just because it was opposed once.
There's no need to let it bother you.
It reassures. It isn't a ban
There's no need to apologize.
There is no reason to, so don't trouble yourself.
You don't have to apologize.
It isn't required. Either way is fine.
You must not apologize.
A ban. ことはない leaves the choice with you.
Close neighbours
なくてもいいN5
The neutral "don't have to". It is also how you ask, and what you say about yourself.
Tomorrow is a day off, so I don't have to get up early.
必要はないN4
The same thing stated as a fact, the way an office or a doctor puts it. ことはない is warmer.
There is no need to hurry. The deadline is next week.
ないことはないN3
After a negative: "it's not that … not".
It's not that I can't eat it, but I don't like it much.
ことがあるN3
After the dictionary form too, a plain statement about how things are is "it never happens": the negative of ことがある, "sometimes".
I'll probably never see that person again.
Check yourself
1What does this mean?
そんなに
Choose an answer to see why.
2Which one tells a friend there's no need to do it all by herself?
Choose an answer to see why.
More detail
When the other person has already gone too far, the same words are a protest: "you don't have to…".
You don't have to get so angry.
More sentences
There is still time, so there is no need to panic.
There's no need to worry about it all by yourself.
There is no need to redo the whole plan over a small mistake.
This is only a draft, so there's no need to fix every little bit of wording.
We'll correct it at our end, so there is no need to redo the materials.