我慢 (gaman) means endurance or self-restraint. 我慢する means putting up with pain, discomfort, or an urge without giving in. 我慢できない says you cannot bear it or resist it. 耐える overlaps but often emphasizes enduring a difficult condition.
also gaman suru / gaman dekinai / gamanzuyoi
to hold out · to put up with · to go without
Sentences
我慢できない · the limit
plain。
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もう
もう
already; any more
adverb · with a negative it means 'no longer'
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我慢できない
がまんできない
can't take it
negative potential of 我慢する · the capacity ran out
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That's it — I can't take any more.
〜を我慢する · pain
plain past。
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痛み
いたみ ［3］
pain
noun from 痛い · the sensation as a thing
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を
を
marks the direct object
particle · pronounced お
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我慢した
がまんした
held out against it
past of 我慢する · を marks what you held in
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I gritted my teeth through the pain.
我慢強い · the compliment
polite。
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我慢強い
がまんづよい ［5］
patient; able to endure
い-adjective from 我慢 ＋ 強い · a straightforward compliment
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人
ひと ［0］
person
noun · read ひと standing alone
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です
です
(polite ending)
copula · it attaches to 人, the noun the adjective describes
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ね
ね
isn't that so
sentence particle · invites agreement
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You're very patient, aren't you.
〜を我慢する · going without
polite。
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甘い
あまい ［0］
sweet
い-adjective · also 'lenient' or 'naive' figuratively
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物
もの ［2］
things
noun · 甘い物 is the set phrase for sweets
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を
を
marks the direct object
particle · pronounced お
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我慢しています
がまんしています
am going without
ています · an ongoing effort, not a single act
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I'm laying off sweet things.
我慢しないで · the kind version
polite。
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我慢しないで
がまんしないで
don't hold it in
negative request from 我慢する · kind, not an order
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言って
いって
say it
て-form of 言う · a soft request on its own
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ください
ください
please (do)
polite request · from くださる
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Don't bottle it up — say it.
我慢 as a noun
plain。
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あと
あと
from here on; remaining
noun used adverbially · counts down what is left
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少し
すこし ［2］
a little
adverb · quantity, not degree
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の
の
links noun to noun
particle · A の B = B belonging to A
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我慢
がまん ［1］
holding out
bare noun · あと少しの我慢 is a fixed encouragement
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だ
だ
is
plain copula · closes the encouragement without softening it
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Just a little longer and we're through.
Forms
Noun ＋ を＋我慢する
痛みを我慢する, 甘い物を我慢する. The を is what you are holding in or going without — a sensation, an urge, a food, a word you did not say.
我慢＋できない / できません
もう我慢できない. Note the negative potential, not 我慢しない — the point is that the capacity ran out, not that you chose to stop.
我慢＋して / しないで
もう少し我慢して, hold on a bit longer. 我慢しないで, don't bottle it up — which is what you say to someone who is clearly in pain.
我慢＋強い / の限界
我慢強い人, someone who endures well. 我慢の限界, the limit of what you can take — a fixed phrase and usually said just before it is reached.
Meaning
我慢 is the everyday word and the widest. It covers the trivial — waiting for the toilet, skipping dessert — and the serious, and it is always about holding something in that wants out. The thing being held can be a sensation, an urge, or a sentence you decided not to say.
耐える is heavier and more literal. It is what a bridge does under load and what a person does under grief: 寒さに耐える, 重みに耐える. It takes に rather than を, and it has no sense of choosing — you endure because there is no alternative.
忍耐 is the abstract noun, the quality of patience itself, and lives in writing: 忍耐力, staying power. Nobody says 忍耐する about waiting for a train. If you are talking about a virtue in the abstract it is 忍耐; if you are talking about right now, it is 我慢.
The valuation is the part that does not transfer. In English, putting up with things is at best neutral and often a sign you should have spoken up. 我慢 is taught as a virtue from childhood, and 我慢強い is a plain compliment. Which is exactly why 我慢しないで — don't hold it in — is a kind thing to say, and why 我慢の限界 lands as hard as it does.
Inside the word
The classical first person, still alive in compounds: 自我 the ego, 我々 we, 我が国 our country. On its own in modern Japanese it survives mostly in set phrases — 我に返る, to come to your senses.
The same character gives 慢心 complacency and 傲慢 arrogance — but also 慢性 chronic and 緩慢 sluggish. Puffed-up and slow-moving are one image: something that will not be hurried.
In Buddhist vocabulary 我慢 was one of the afflictions — pride in the self. Middle Japanese shifted it toward stubborn self-assertion, and from there to holding your ground, and from there to holding out. Modern 我慢 is what is left after the pride was worn off it.
Watch out
我慢しない says you have decided not to bother enduring. What you almost always mean is 我慢できない, the potential — you have run out of capacity. The first sounds petulant; the second sounds human.
我慢する takes を: 寒さを我慢する. It is 耐える that takes に — 寒さに耐える. The two verbs are close in meaning and opposite in particle, which is how the mistake happens.
忍耐 is the abstract quality and belongs to written Japanese — 忍耐力が必要です. Nobody says 忍耐している about waiting in a queue. Live, in the moment, it is 我慢 every time.
Also asked
To hold something in rather than let it out — pain, an urge, a craving, a complaint. It ranges from the trivial (waiting for the toilet, skipping dessert) to the serious, and it always implies the thing wanted out and you did not let it.
我慢する for everyday holding-in, with を. 耐える for heavier, more literal endurance — cold, weight, grief — with に. 耐える also has no sense of choosing; you endure because there is nothing else to do.
Broadly yes. It is taught from childhood as a virtue and 我慢強い is a plain compliment, where English “puts up with a lot” carries a hint that you should have spoken up. That valuation is the part learners tend to miss.
The limit of what you can take — a fixed phrase, usually said as it is being reached: もう我慢の限界です. Because 我慢 is expected of people, announcing that the limit has arrived is a much stronger statement than it looks.
Enduring for appearances — literally thin endurance. Refusing a coat because you said you were not cold, insisting you are fine when you plainly are not. It is the one flavour of 我慢 Japanese is faintly critical of, and it is usually said with a smile.
がまん, accent on the first mora. It is a noun that takes する — 我慢する, 我慢している, 我慢できない — and it also stands alone as a noun in あと少しの我慢.
References
Kotobank: 我慢 — Defines endurance and the older stubbornness sense.
Nearby
holding back toward other people, rather than inside yourself
仕方がないshikata ga naithe phrase you say when 我慢 is the only option left
面倒くさいmendokusaithe thing you have to 我慢 through most days
ざるを得ない vs しかないzaru wo enai · shika nai我慢するしかない — having no other move
頑張るがんばるthe other thing Japan praises you for enduring
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