詰めが甘い · i-adjective
| Form | Positive | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Dictionary | 詰めが甘い | 詰めが甘くない |
| Polite | 詰めが甘いです | 詰めが甘くないですalso 詰めが甘くありません |
| Past polite | 詰めが甘かったです | 詰めが甘くなかったですalso 詰めが甘くありませんでした |
| Past | 詰めが甘かった | 詰めが甘くなかった |
| Te-form | 詰めが甘くて | 詰めが甘くなくて |
| Adverbial | 詰めが甘く | |
| Conditional | 詰めが甘ければ | 詰めが甘くなければ |
| Tara conditional | 詰めが甘かったら | 詰めが甘くなかったら |
poor endgame; failing at the final stage; slacking off at the end
Idiomatic expression used when someone does well initially but makes careless mistakes or lets their guard down at the crucial final stage, leading to failure. Often used in business, sports, or games.
He works fast, but his endgame is weak, so he makes many mistakes at the end.
We were leading in the match, but we slacked off at the end and lost by a comeback.
Standard kanji spelling for this idiomatic expression.
Katakana spelling of 詰め, sometimes used for emphasis or in informal writing.
From the game of shogi (Japanese chess) or go, where 詰め refers to the endgame or checkmating sequence. 甘い here means 'lax' or 'insufficiently sharp', so the phrase literally means 'the endgame is lax', i.e., failing to finish decisively.