ざるを得ない ざるをえない Meanings Expression, Auxiliary adjective, い-adjective have to; have no choice but to; cannot help (doing); be compelled to; be obliged to; be forced to (after the -nai stem of a verb) Kanji 得 gain. Read as える. Words containing ざるを得ない せざるを得ない (せざるをえない) cannot avoid doing やらざるを得ない (やらざるをえない) cannot avoid doing 使わざるを得ない (つかわざるをえない) forced to use Jinuma: Japanese Dictionary · Word lists