585 - にたえる

The word 耐える (たえる) gets translated to things like "to bear," "to stand," "to endure," "to put up with," "to withstand," "to resist," etc.

For example, we could say:


深海魚は高い水圧に耐えられる
しんかいぎょ は たかい すいあつ に たえられる。
Deep-sea fish can withstand high water pressure.
Literally: “deep-sea fish + は + high + water pressure + に + can endure / can withstand.”


As you can see in the above example, the word 耐える typically comes after the particle に.

に耐える can sometimes mean "to be fit for" or "to be worthy of," which just so happens to be the topic of this lesson!

(Now would be a good time to make sure that you can read the kanji-version of 耐える [たえる], since we'll be using it throughout this lesson's explanations.)


JLPT N1: にたえる (worthy of)

Diving right into our first example:

いつか、世界中からの称賛に耐える立派な発明家になりたいと思う。
いつか、 せかいじゅう から の しょうさん に たえる りっぱな はつめいか に なりたい と おもう。
Someday I want to become a great inventor that is worthy of receiving praise from all around the world.
Literally: “someday, + all around the world + from + の + praise / admiration + に + is fit for / is worthy of + splendid / fine + inventor + に + want to become + と + think.”


Breaking that sentence up, we have the phrases:

世界中からの称賛
せかいじゅう から の しょうさん
praise from all around the world
Literally: “all around the world + from + の + praise / admiration”

...and:

立派な発明家になりたいと思う
りっぱな はつめいか に なりたい と おもう
I want to become a great inventor
Literally: “splendid / fine + inventor + に + want to become + と + think”


に耐える, which we can translate here as "worthy of," can be slipped in between these two phrases:


世界中からの称賛に耐える + 立派な発明家になりたいと思う
せかいじゅう から の しょうさん + に たえる + りっぱな はつめいか に なりたい と おもう
praise from all around the world + is worthy of / is fit for + I want to become a great inventor
→ → I want to become a great inventor that is worthy of receiving praise from all around the world


This isn't the most common sentence pattern, but you might hear it being being used once in a while. In any case, you'll want to be sure that you understand it for when you take the JLPT N1 test!


We already saw the following sentence construction:

する-NOUNに耐える


As a reminder, "する-NOUN" refers to a noun that can have する attach to the end of it. In other words, it's a noun that expresses an action. As is often the case with JLPT phrases that can connect to a する-NOUN, it is also possible to put a VERB before に耐える, like this:

VERBに耐える


Here's an example of に耐える coming after a VERB:


あの週刊誌は、読むに耐える記事がほとんどない。
あの しゅうかんし は、 よむ に たえる きじ が ほとんど ない。
There are hardly any articles worth reading in that (weekly) magazine.
Literally: “that + weekly publication / weekly magazine + は, + read + に + is fit for / is worthy of + articles + が + hardly any / few and far between (=just about/mostly + there are not).”


I've noticed that it's fairly common to see a NOUN coming after に耐える, which has been the case for all of our examples so far:

する-NOUNに耐える NOUN
VERBに耐えるNOUN


This is not always the case, though. Here we see に耐える coming at the end of a sentence:


彼女の演奏は、プロの音楽家の鑑賞も十分耐えます
かのじょ の えんそう は、 プロ の おんがくか の かんしょう に も じゅうぶん たえます。
Her performance is easily good enough to impress a professional musician.
Literally: “she + の + musical performance + は, + pro + の + musician + の + appreciation (e.g. of art) + に + も + enough + is fit for / is worthy of.”


Finally, when you want to say that X is not worthy of or fit for something, you can put "NOUN ではない" after に耐える


彼のアイディアは、実行に耐えるものではなかった
かれ の アイディア は、 じっこう に たえる もの ではなかった。
His idea was not worth putting into practice.
Literally: “he + の + idea + は, + execution / practice + に + is fit for / is worthy of + thing + was not (=ではなかった).”


Another lesson for the books.

I hope that you found me to be worthy of teaching you some Japanese. ^^

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