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The phrase アルコールはダメなんだ is from a manga I read, in which a guy responds to his
friend when being asked if he wants a beer. He appears not to be into alcohol,
even goes so far to say that "I don't like the taste, nor is there any
occasion for me to drink".

I'm not sure what possible meanings that phrase could have though. Literally,
it'd be "Alcohol is not good", and it could be reasonably thought of as
"Alcohol isn't good for your health" (in which case he might be advising his
friend not to drink).

**I'm curious whether there's a possibility for it to mean "I'm not good with
alcohol" > "I can't drink".** After all, this seems to be an example of the
various ambiguous uses of "wa", in which the topic isn't necessarily
grammatically tied to the modifying phrase that follows.
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translation meaning particle-は phrases
What could a phrase like アルコールはダメなんだ possibly mean?
It means "I'm not good with alcohol" or "I don't like alcohol". Of course it
can also mean "Alcohol is not good (for your health)" and "Alcohol is
prohibited (in this event)", depending on the context. In general, ～がダメだ can
mean "to be not good at ～" or "not to like ～". For example you can say
サッカーはダメです, 彼は英語がダメです, etc.
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If I hear you say アルコールはダメなんだ without any context, I will understand it as "I
can't drink alcohol".

That said, [ダメ](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/139020/meaning/m0u/) is
certainly an absurdly polysemous word with general negative connotation "not
good; don't do; don't work". Alone it won't even tell _what_ is not good to
_what_ , so the context eventually matters.

Instead of using your example, I will present a Hatsune Miku song called
[胸いっぱいのダメを](https://www5.atwiki.jp/hmiku/pages/27029.html)
([YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPWOd207TA0)), from which you can
have every imaginable shades of the word's usage...

> 空気が読めないから **ダメ** _An insensitive guy (like you) is **useless**._  
>  心を見透かしては **ダメ** _**Don't** read others' mind._  
>  **ダメダメ** いうのもダメだ _Stop saying " **no, no** "._  
>  その着地点も **ダメ** だ _That solution(?) is **no good** either._  
>  無責任な本音は **ダメ** _A blatant truth is **not allowed**._  
>  中学生の **ダメ** を _... **faults** of middle schoolers_ [accusative]  
>  不老不死ならもっと **ダメ** _Immortality is even **worse**._  
>  焼き肉がほんとうまくて **ダメ** _The grilled meat tastes so **wickedly** good._
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