見境がつかない · i-adjective
| Form | Positive | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Dictionary | 見境がつかない | 見境がつかなくない |
| Polite | 見境がつかないです | 見境がつかなくないですalso 見境がつかなくありません |
| Past polite | 見境がつかなかったです | 見境がつかなくなかったですalso 見境がつかなくありませんでした |
| Past | 見境がつかなかった | 見境がつかなくなかった |
| Te-form | 見境がつかなくて | 見境がつかなくなくて |
| Adverbial | 見境がつかなく | |
| Conditional | 見境がつかなければ | 見境がつかなくなければ |
| Tara conditional | 見境がつかなかったら | 見境がつかなくなかったら |
cannot tell one thing from another; cannot distinguish (e.g. good from bad)
Used when someone loses the ability to make distinctions, often due to strong emotion, intoxication, or obsession. Commonly appears in negative form 見境がつかない.
See also: 付く (つく)
He lost the ability to distinguish right from wrong in his anger.
He was so drunk he couldn't tell one thing from another.
Standard kanji spelling using 見境.
Variant using 付く for つく; less common but acceptable.
Compound of 見境 (discernment) + が + つかない (negative potential form of つく, here meaning 'to be established/perceived'). The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the phrase is a conventionalized expression.