adverbial N3 common casualpolitewritten
なんとか — somehow / one way or another
なんとか
Meaning
- somehow / one way or another — manage to do something with effort, despite difficulty
Key sentence
締め切りまでに、なんとか間に合った。
I somehow made it by the deadline.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Adverb, before the verb | なんとか + V | なんとかなる (it'll work out somehow) |
Examples
お金がなくても、なんとか暮らしている。
Even without money, I'm somehow getting by.
なんとかして彼を説得したい。
I want to persuade him somehow, by any means.
Easily confused with
Notes
- なんとかなる ('it'll work out somehow') and なんとかして ('by any means') are set phrases. なんとか is also a stand-in for a forgotten name: なんとかさん ('Mr. So-and-so').
See なんとか in real sentences
Jengo shows なんとか the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar, A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar.