N1 grammar · Lesson 12

「に足たる」「に堪たえる」「に堪たえない」: worth it or not

長年ながねん一緒いっしょに働はたらいてきた彼かれは、信頼しんらいに足たる人物じんぶつだ。

「〜に足たる」「〜に堪たえる」: worth it, up to it; 「〜に足たりない」「〜に堪たえない」: not worth it, unbearable; in speeches: 「感謝かんしゃに堪たえません」.

Practise Paid

After this lesson you can

Use 「〜に足たる」 to say something is well founded and worth it, and 「取とるに足たりない」 and 「恐おそれるに足たりない」 to say it isn’t worth bothering about.
Use 「〜に堪たえる」 to say something stands up to or is good enough for something: 「鑑賞かんしょうに堪たえる」, 「批判ひはんに堪たえる」.
Tell apart the two meanings of 「〜に堪たえない」: too bad to watch or listen to, and a feeling too strong to contain, such as deep gratitude.
Compare 「に値あたいする」, 「価値かちがある」 and 「耐たえられない」, and know how to switch between the written and spoken versions.

5 sections · 6 practice sets · 32 questions

In this lesson

01「〜に足たる」: enough to …, worth …
02「〜に足たりない」: not worth …
03「〜に堪たえる」 and 「〜に堪たえない」: up to it; unbearable; deeply …
04Compared with similar expressions
05Putting them together: dialogue and short text

Practice

Choose the meaning of each sentence
Which sentence uses it correctly?
Choose the phrase for each blank
Change to the given form
Put the pieces in order
Read the passage and answer the questions

This lesson needs a subscription or a pass

Lessons 1–3 of this course are free. A subscription or a pass unlocks all 25 lessons, together with the JLPT N4–N2 practice and our recorded audio.

See plans Subscribed? Sign in Start with free lesson 1

Practice

Press “Check” when you finish a set: each answer is marked with an explanation, and you can redo only the ones you missed. Progress is saved in this browser.