watasi ha sabisikute mo, nakuno wo gamansimasu.

Even if I feel lonely, I hold back from crying.

Breakdown of watasi ha sabisikute mo, nakuno wo gamansimasu.

• は: topic particle
• 私わたし: I
• を: direct object particle
• 〜の: verb nominalizer
• 〜くて も: conditional form (even if)
• 泣なく: to cry
• 寂さびしい: lonely
• 我慢がまんする: to endure

Questions & Answers about watasi ha sabisikute mo, nakuno wo gamansimasu.

Why is は used after 私 here? Could we use が instead?

は after 私 marks the topic, so the sentence is “as for me / I, …”.

• 私 = I / me
• は = topic marker → “as for…”

Using が (私が寂しくても…) would sound like you’re emphasizing that it’s I in particular (not someone else) who endures without crying. That’s usually unnecessary here.

In a normal, neutral sentence like this, 私は… is the most natural choice. In many contexts, Japanese would even drop 私 entirely and just say:

寂しくても、泣くのを我慢します。
“(Even if I feel lonely,) I hold back from crying.”

What exactly is going on with 寂しくて も? Why not just 寂しい?

寂しくて も is the combination of:

• 寂しい (i-adjective) → “lonely”
• て-form of an i-adjective: 寂しくて
• plus も

The pattern [i-adjective 〜くて] + も gives the meaning “even if / even though [adjective]”.

So:

• 寂しい = lonely
• 寂しくて = lonely (in て-form, used to connect or make patterns like 〜ても)
• 寂しくても = even if / even though (I am) lonely

It’s normally written as one chunk 寂しくても, not with a space. The space you see is just to show the pieces; it’s still one grammatical unit.

What is the difference between 寂しくても and 寂しいけど?

Both can be translated as “even though I’m lonely / although I’m lonely”, but there’s a nuance difference:

• 寂しくても、泣くのを我慢します。

  • 〜ても has a strong “even if / despite” feel.
  • It often implies that what follows happens in spite of the first part.
  • Sounds a bit more “condition-like”: even if I am (or get) lonely, the result is the same.

• 寂しいけど、泣くのを我慢します。

  • 〜けど is a general “but / although” connector.
  • More conversational, less “despite X, still Y” in a conditional sense.
  • Feels more like simply contrasting two facts.

In this sentence, 寂しくても sounds particularly natural because the second part 我慢します is exactly something done “in spite of” the loneliness.

Why is there a の after 泣く? What does 泣くの mean?

Here の is a nominalizer: it turns a verb phrase into a noun-like thing.

• 泣く = to cry
• 泣くの ≈ “crying” / “the act of crying”

So 泣くの functions like a noun, allowing it to be the object of a verb such as 我慢する (“to endure / hold back / put up with”):

• 泣くのを我慢します。
  literally: “I endure (the) crying.”
  natural: “I hold back from crying / I resist crying.”

Why is the particle を after 泣くの? Isn’t を supposed to mark a direct object of the verb?

Exactly: を does mark the direct object, and here the verb that takes the object is 我慢します.

Structure:

• 泣くの = “crying” (nominalized verb phrase)
• を = marks that as the direct object
• 我慢します = “endure / hold back”

So grammatically it’s:

[泣くの] を [我慢します]
“[Crying] (I) endure/hold back.”

The confusion often comes from the English gloss “endure crying”, which sounds like you are enduring a crying event, but in Japanese this pattern very naturally means “refrain from doing that action” (hold it in, resist doing it).

What’s the difference between 泣くのを我慢します and 泣くことを我慢します?

Both are grammatically correct and similar in meaning, but there’s a nuance:

• 泣くのを我慢します。

  • の is more everyday, concrete, personal.
  • Very natural in spoken Japanese.
  • Sounds like “I hold back (my) crying” in real, immediate situations.

• 泣くことを我慢します。

  • こと is often more formal/abstract/general.
  • Can sound a bit more textbook-like or stiff in casual speech.
  • Feels like talking about “the act of crying” more abstractly.

In most natural conversation for this sentence, 泣くのを我慢します is preferred.

Could I say 泣くのをしません instead of 泣くのを我慢します?

No; that would sound unnatural and doesn’t express the same idea.

• 〜しません just means “don’t do ~”.
• 我慢します means “endure / put up with / hold back”.

泣くのをしません would literally be “I don’t do crying,” which is not how Japanese expresses “I try not to cry / I hold back from crying”.

To express “I hold back from crying,” Japanese uses 我慢する:

• 泣くのを我慢します。 = I hold back from crying / I refrain from crying.

Can I drop 私 and just say 寂しくても、泣くのを我慢します。?

Yes, and that’s actually more natural in many real-life situations.

Japanese often omits subjects when they are clear from context. Since you’re talking about your own feelings and actions, listeners will usually assume “I” is meant.

So:

• 私 は 寂しくても、泣くのを我慢します。
• 寂しくても、泣くのを我慢します。

Both are correct. The second is simply less explicit about “I,” which is perfectly normal in Japanese.

What tense or time does 我慢します express here? Is it present or future?

我慢します is in the polite non-past form. In Japanese, this single form can cover:

• present habitual: “I (generally) hold back from crying.”
• future: “I will hold back from crying.”
• general statement: “I (as a rule) endure it.”

The exact nuance (present/future/habitual) is decided by context, not by verb form alone. In a generic sentence like this, it most often sounds like a habitual or general attitude: “Even if I’m lonely, I (try to) hold back from crying.”

Would 泣かないように我慢します mean the same thing as 泣くのを我慢します?

They’re close, but not identical:

• 泣くのを我慢します。

  • Literally “I endure (the) crying.”
  • Idiomatically: “I hold back from crying / I resist crying.”
  • Focuses on the act that is being resisted.

• 泣かないように我慢します。

  • Literally “I endure (things) so that I won’t cry.”
  • Emphasizes the result “so that I don’t cry.”

In many contexts they could both be translated “I try not to cry,” but:

• 泣くのを我慢します is the more direct, set phrase for “I hold back tears / I refrain from crying.”
• 泣かないように我慢します sounds a bit more like you’re enduring something else in order not to end up crying.