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What's the difference between 不可能 and 不能? Both mean 'impossible', but '不能'
also means 'incapable'. Aren't they synonyms? Feel free to provide example
sentences.
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2020-12-15T19:21:46.320
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question
word-choice
What's the difference between 不可能 and 不能?
As a simple na-adjective, you should use 不可能 over 不能 in nearly all cases. (But
just in case, you may need ありえない instead of 不可能. 不可能 means "one is unable to
do something", whereas あり得ない means "something cannot happen". 「30分でアメリカに来い？
不可能だ！」「昨日アメリカで僕を見た？ ありえない！」 Both mean "That's impossible" in English, but in
Japanese they are different.)

不能 is used mainly as part of longer fixed compounds meaning "un-X-able": 理解不能
(incomprehensible), 回復不能 (unrecoverable), 修理不能 (unfixable), etc. In other
words, you should think of this as a **suffix** rather than a standalone
adjective. You can use 不可能 in these cases, too, but 不能 is shorter and
preferred.

不能 is used on its own also in the following _rare_ situations, but
intermediate learners may not have to remember these:

  * "impotent (sexually)": Outdated. People usually prefer "ED" or 勃起不全 today.
  * "incapable", "has no ability": Rare and outdated. 無能 is almost always preferred today.
  * "unsolvable", "has no solution" (math equation): Rare math jargon. 解なし is more common in obligatory education.
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2020-12-16T05:30:58.790
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