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gamansisugiru to, huanna kimoti ga sukosizutu tamatte ikimasu.

我慢がまんしすぎる　と、　不安ふあんな　気き持もち　が　少すこしずつ　たまって　いきます。gamansisugiru to, huanna kimoti ga sukosizutu tamatte ikimasu.
If you endure too much, anxious feelings gradually pile up.
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Questions & Answers about gamansisugiru to, huanna kimoti ga sukosizutu tamatte ikimasu.

What does しすぎる mean here, and is it one word or two verbs?

しすぎる comes from 我慢する (to endure/hold back) + すぎる (to do too much).

  • The verb する changes to its ます-stem form し
  • Then you add すぎる → しすぎる = to endure too much / to overdo the self-restraint

So grammatically it’s:

  • 我慢する → 我慢し + すぎる → 我慢しすぎる
  • Meaning: “if you hold it in too much,” “if you overdo suppressing yourself,” etc.
What is the function of と after 我慢しすぎる? Is it the quotation particle?

In this sentence, と is not the quotation と. It’s the conditional と, which means roughly “when / if / whenever”.

  • 我慢しすぎると、～
    → “When you endure too much, …” / “If you keep holding it in too much, …”

This と often expresses a natural or inevitable result:

  • ボタンを押すと、ドアが開きます。
    “If/when you press the button, the door opens.”

Similarly:

  • 我慢しすぎると、不安な気持ちが少しずつたまっていきます。
    “If/when you endure too much, anxious feelings gradually build up.”

So: it’s a conditional marker, not a quotation marker.

Why 不安な気持ち and not just 不安? What’s the nuance?

Both are possible, but there is a nuance difference:

  • 不安が少しずつたまっていきます。
    → “Anxiety gradually builds up.” (treats 不安 as the thing itself)

  • 不安な気持ちが少しずつたまっていきます。
    → “Anxious feelings gradually build up.”

気持ち means “feeling” or “emotion.” By saying 不安な気持ち, the sentence:

  • sounds more personal and emotional
  • emphasizes the inner feeling rather than an abstract “anxiety” as a concept

In everyday speech, 不安な気持ちが… feels softer and more about what’s going on inside someone’s heart/mind.

Why is it 不安な気持ち and not 不安の気持ち?

Because 不安 here is a な-adjective, not just a noun.

  • な-adjectives modify nouns with な:
    • きれいな人 (a beautiful person)
    • 元気な子ども (a lively child)
    • 不安な気持ち (an anxious feeling)

Using の (不安の気持ち) would sound unnatural here. When you want to say “an anxious feeling,” you treat 不安 as an adjective: 不安な + 気持ち.

Why is the particle が used with 気持ち instead of は?

が marks the grammatical subject of the verb たまっていきます:

  • 不安な気持ちが少しずつたまっていきます。
    “Anxious feelings (subject) gradually accumulate.”

If you said:

  • 不安な気持ちは少しずつたまっていきます。

it would put contrast or topic focus on “anxious feelings” (as the topic), possibly implying “as for anxious feelings (as opposed to something else), they accumulate…” That’s a slightly different nuance.

Here, the sentence is simply explaining what builds up, so が as a neutral subject marker is natural.

What is the difference between 少しずつ and just 少し?
  • 少し by itself = “a little,” “a bit.”
  • 少しずつ = “little by little,” “gradually,” “bit by bit.”

ずつ indicates distribution over time or space, so 少しずつ implies repeated small increases:

  • 少しずつたまっていきます。
    → “They gradually build up (a little at a time).”

If you said:

  • 不安な気持ちが少したまっていきます。

it could be understood, but it sounds less natural and loses the clear “step‑by‑step accumulation” nuance that 少しずつ provides.

What does たまっていきます mean exactly? How is it formed?

たまっていきます is:

  • たまる (to accumulate, to build up)
    → te-form: たまって
    • いく (here as an auxiliary)
      → polite form: いきます

So:

  • たまっていく = “to go on accumulating,” “to keep piling up,” “to gradually build up (as time goes on).”

Nuance:

  • たまる = simply “to accumulate” (a state/event)
  • たまっていく = emphasizes a process over time, the ongoing increase into the future.

Thus, 不安な気持ちが少しずつたまっていきます。 focuses on the gradual, continuing build‑up of the feelings.

What’s the general meaning of the pattern te-form + いく, like in たまっていきます?

Vていく often means that an action or state develops or continues from now into the future or away from the speaker’s current point in time.

Common nuances:

  • Gradual change:
    • 暗くなっていく = “to get darker and darker (going forward)”
  • Continuing process:
    • 勉強を続けていく = “to keep on studying (from here on)”

In this sentence:

  • たまっていく
    → “(the feelings) keep piling up as time passes,”
    → “they go on accumulating.”

So Vていく adds a time/progression feeling compared to just Vる.

Why is the verb at the end いきます (polite), while earlier it’s 我慢しすぎる (plain form)? Is that allowed?

Yes, this is normal and grammatical.

  • In conditionals like X すると、Y ます, it’s common to have:
    • plain form before と (or たら, ば, etc.)
    • polite form in the main clause

Examples:

  • ボタンを押すと、ドアが開きます。
  • 勉強しないと、テストで困ります。

So:

  • 我慢しすぎると、不安な気持ちが少しずつたまっていきます。

fits the usual pattern: plain conditional clause + polite main clause. The politeness is determined primarily by the final verb form (いきます).

Could we say 我慢しすぎたら instead of 我慢しすぎると? What would change?

You could say:

  • 我慢しすぎたら、不安な気持ちが少しずつたまっていきます。

It’s grammatical, but the nuance shifts a bit.

  • X すると、Y often expresses a natural, almost automatic result or general rule.
  • X したら、Y is a more general “if/when X happens, Y,” and can sound more event-like or one-time.

In this context:

  • 我慢しすぎると suggests a general tendency / predictable consequence: “When people overdo enduring things, anxious feelings (tend to) build up.”

  • 我慢しすぎたら can sound a bit more like: “If/when you happen to have endured too much on some occasion, then your anxious feelings build up.”

Both are understandable, but と fits the idea of a general psychological pattern especially well.