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How to Say ‘It won’t be fixed.’ in Japanese

直りません。

naori mase n

[nao-ri mah-seh n]

💬 Usage Tip: [直りません] means “it doesn’t get fixed / it won’t recover.” For things, you can also say [直りませんでした] (it didn’t fix).

🇯🇵 In Japan: Japanese often avoids blaming and just states the result (“it didn’t fix”), which keeps the tone calm.

Phrase Breakdown

直り

naori

[nao-ri]

get fixed; be repaired (stem of 直る)

直り is from 直る (to be fixed). Used for machines/problems: 給湯器が直る (the heater gets repaired).

Example

給湯器が直りません。

The water heater won’t be fixed / doesn’t get fixed.

ませ

mase

[mah-seh]

(polite negative marker part) (as in ません)

ませ is part of the polite negative ません. It makes the statement polite when reporting trouble to your landlord.

Example

何度試しても直りません。

No matter how many times I try, it won’t be fixed.

n

[n]

not (final part of ません)

ん completes ません. 直りません = “It won’t be fixed / It doesn’t get fixed.”

Example

リセットしても直りません。

Even if I reset it, it won’t be fixed.

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