<entry id="2223185" stat="A" corpus="jmdict" type="jmdict">
<ent_corp type="jmdict">jmdict</ent_corp>
<ent_seq>2202960</ent_seq>
<k_ele>
<keb>手につかない</keb>
</k_ele>
<k_ele>
<keb>手に付かない</keb>
</k_ele>
<k_ele>
<keb>手に着かない</keb>
<ke_inf>&sK;</ke_inf>
</k_ele>
<r_ele>
<reb>てにつかない</reb>
</r_ele>
<sense>
<pos>&exp;</pos>
<pos>&adj-i;</pos>
<misc>&id;</misc>
<s_inf>as ...が〜 or ...も〜</s_inf>
<gloss>unable to focus on ... (due to being preoccupied with something else)</gloss>
<gloss>unable to concentrate on ...</gloss>
<gloss>unable to settle down to ...</gloss>
</sense>
<info>
<audit time="2007-08-15 00:00:00" stat="A">
<upd_detl>Entry created</upd_detl>
</audit>
<audit time="2017-12-02 06:39:46" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_uid>Marcus</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Marcus Richert</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_diff>@@ -18 +18,3 @@
-<gloss>to not be able to concentrate on (due to distractions, etc.)</gloss>
+<pos>&adj-i;</pos>
+<misc>&id;</misc>
+<gloss>unable to concentrate on (due to distractions, etc.)</gloss></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2017-12-23 22:37:13" stat="A">
<upd_uid>jwb</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Jim Breen</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
</audit>
<audit time="2022-02-27 07:23:52" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_name>Opencooper</upd_name>
<upd_refs>G n-grams:
手につかない 60565
手に付かない 17965
手に着かない 2672</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -5 +5 @@
-<keb>手に付かない</keb>
+<keb>手につかない</keb>
@@ -8 +8 @@
-<keb>手につかない</keb>
+<keb>手に付かない</keb></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2022-02-27 11:08:55" stat="A">
<upd_uid>Marcus</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Marcus Richert</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_refs>着 is not in the kokugos so I'm assuming it's iK.</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -11,0 +12 @@
+<ke_inf>&iK;</ke_inf></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2022-02-27 11:09:29" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_uid>Marcus</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Marcus Richert</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>trailing "on" followed by (due to distractions) looks kind of weird, is this better?</upd_detl>
<upd_diff>@@ -21 +21 @@
-<gloss>unable to concentrate on (due to distractions, etc.)</gloss>
+<gloss>unable to concentrate on (something; due to distractions, etc.)</gloss></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2022-02-27 21:08:56" stat="A">
<upd_uid>jwb</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Jim Breen</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>I think it can be even briefer. The meaning is clear.</upd_detl>
<upd_diff>@@ -21 +21 @@
-<gloss>unable to concentrate on (something; due to distractions, etc.)</gloss>
+<gloss>unable to concentrate (due to distractions, etc.)</gloss></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2023-02-25 05:55:41" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_name>Brian Krznarich</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>This entry is an example of something I would like to work on improving in general, if there is an appetite for it in this group. This falls into a class of entries where the J->E gloss is perfectly serviceable when used with a specific context, but hard to make sense of in the J->E direction. A particular issue is lack of cues to grammatical relationships between subjects and objects when they don't align with the English gloss.
===
With regard to the previous edit, I think the "on" was important... This phrase generally takes a grammatical subject with が which equates to the object in the English expression. Xが手につかない = "cannot focus on X(due to being preoccupied with something else)". I've replaced "distractions" with "preoccupation" for specificity. It appears, for example, that this would not be the first choice for "I'm unable to work because there is noisy construction outside".
I've removed [adj-i] as a note for discussion, and added [vi]. This is not, generally, used as an adjective. It is the "dictionary form" of a negated verb. So, you can expect all the usual negated forms （ません、ず、ぬ、なかった...). n-gram counts for 手につく inflections included in the references. Yes, this entry's surface form is structurally an い adj, but it would be far more useful for a computer to know that this entry is identifying the negative inflection of a specific verb... Is there a way to indicate that? (note: this seems somewhat related to github comments on the entry 虫も殺さぬ).
One other shortcoming of [adj-i] is that it's particularly unclear that a grammatical subject figures into the expression. Tagging as a "intransitive verb" at least makes that possibility a little more apparent.
Only with regards to the [adj-i] bit, there is something similar with the 手に負えない entry. This gets a corresponding 手に負える entry with [see=手に負えない], and a comment [note="usu. in the negative"]. Not sure if 手に付く warrants that kind of entry though, but it would allow people searching on inflected forms to make their way back here... I'm not advocating for that entry, just thinking about possibilities.
==
Because why not do 7 crazy things at once... I've added 手が付かない as an [sK] form to this entry. nikk says there is a subtle variation between the forms, but daijs and sankoku both list as absolute synonyms, so I am imagining the distinction was lost over time. Looking at the simplest かない inflection, が is 15% of overall usage, which is more than enough to actually display it as a surface form. But if it's displayed, it will garble up the readings with [restr=] tags. If it's possible to avoid a duplicate entry for 手が付かない, that seems preferable to me, but maybe 仕方がない... please let me know and I can propose a separate entry in the usual way, and maybe xref it back here.
... The more I think about it, the more I think が needs its own entry. But in any case I will at least wait till this entry is resolved, then we can duplicate the final entry (if desired).
==
big general note: I am neither a native Japanese speaker, nor an expert on Japanese. While I try very hard to understand issues before commenting, please don't take these comments as authoritative or as a claim to greater knowledge than anyone in this group.</upd_detl>
<upd_refs>The "pre-occupied with something else in particular" seems clear in all dictionaries I have checked. "Can't focus on work because I am in love and cannot stop thinking about my boyfriend." Usage does seem to vary though (can't focus on *anything* due to, say, depression)
Two dictionaries also give 仕事 specifically as examples.
sankoku: 手に付かない（句）ほかのことに気を取られて、そのことに心が集中しない。手がつかない。「仕事がー・仕事も手につかず」
nikk: 他に心が奪われて、その事に身がはいらない。落ち着いて物事の処置ができない。手がつかない。
daijs: 心が他に奪われてその事に集中できない。「うれしくて仕事が―◦ない」
n-grams give other work-related items I encountered.
Common work-related collocations:
手につかない 60565
仕事が手につかない 13679
勉強が手につかない 3254
家事が手につかない 288
何も手につかない 3254 (often with ほど or くらい, but too large for n-grams. nothing can hold my attention = unable to concentrate on anything)
Hard to find a positive collocation. Really seems to be primarily "cannot focus on responsibility because distracted by love/fun (or sometimes depression)".
Did an image search for the phrase, and followed some article links...
What to do when you can't focus on anything because you are too in love with your boyfriend...
カレのことが好きすぎて何も手につかないときの対処法4つ
https://googirl.jp/renai/200608001/
カラダやココロが重くて、何も手につかない焦り
やるべきことはあるのに、何も手につかない焦り
失恋や告白で、気になってしまって何も手につかない
What to do when you can't focus on anything... (because you're exhausted from work, depressed, too focused on your love live, ...)
何も手に付かない状態から脱するためのアドバイス！
https://grevari.com/article.php?id=834
仕事で疲れていたり…
疲れてないけど焦っていたり…
落ち込んでしまったり…
恋愛のことが気になりすぎてしまったり…
Worried so you can't focus...
「気になって手につかない」ときの３つの解決策
http://kikukoto.net/2019/07/02/hft/
Could be coincidence, but he only uses "手につかない" when for "thinking about someone you're in love with, can't study". Other expressions are used with negative preoccupations.(mistake at work, 集中できない, family troubles, 何も頭に入ってこない)
「好きな人のことが気になって勉強が手につかない」
「仕事の大ミスが頭から離れず目の前のことに集中できない」
「家庭の問題が解決せず何も頭に入ってこない」
ALL returned inflections of 手につく
Negative forms:
手につかない 60565
手につきません 21995
手につかず 17727
手につかなかった 7799
手につかなくて 2902
手につかないで 480
手につかぬ 442
手につけない 322
手につかなかったら 64
手につかなければ 55
手につきませんで 34
手につけません 33
Positive forms
手について 24165
手についた 17906
手につく 6800
手につける 3753
手についたら 971
手につきます 579
手につきました 163
手につきまして 167
手につけます 87
手につけば 47
All n-gram particle prefixes:
手につかない 60565
が手につかない 22443
は手につかない 940
で手につかない 196
に手につかない 222
と手につかない 225
の手につかない 50
Not generally used as an adjective:
Top 10 N-grams Lookup for 手につかない (Frequency Order)
手につかない 60565
手につかない状態 4417
手につかないの 2045
手につかない・ 1988
手につかない・・ 1888
手につかないん 1697
手につかないほど 1587
手につかないし 1572
手につかないよう 1569
手につかないくらい 1555
手につかないよ 1554
==== vs 手がつかない
daijs:
デジタル大辞泉「手が付かない」の解説
手てが付つか◦ない
「手に付かない」に同じ。
手につかない 60565 65.4%
手に付かない 17965 19.4%
手がつかない 11249 12.2%
手が付かない 2770 3.0%</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -13,0 +14,8 @@
+<k_ele>
+<keb>手がつかない</keb>
+<ke_inf>&sK;</ke_inf>
+</k_ele>
+<k_ele>
+<keb>手が付かない</keb>
+<ke_inf>&sK;</ke_inf>
+</k_ele>
@@ -19 +27 @@
-<pos>&adj-i;</pos>
+<pos>&vi;</pos>
@@ -21 +29,2 @@
-<gloss>unable to concentrate (due to distractions, etc.)</gloss>
+<gloss>unable to concentrate (on something, esp. work, study, etc.) (esp. since preoccupied with something else)</gloss>
+<gloss g_type="lit">(something) fails to hold one's attention</gloss></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2023-02-25 07:13:29" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_name>Brian Krznarich</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>Small change, I think "focus" is a better gloss for the meaning I've suggested. "unable to focus on work" vs. "unable to concentrate on work", this is mostly stylistic, I think, but google counts seem to roughly support this intuition.
If this were treated as [vi], it really should be "to be unable to focus". And perhaps
[lit] (said of something) to not hold one's attention
If this is merely [adj-i], how do we get from here to 仕事が手につきません...
======
sankoku and daijs both use 集中 (concentration (on a task); focusing one's attention)
nikk uses 身が入らない （can't: to give one's everything; to make one's best effort; to be enthused; to put your back into it）</upd_detl>
<upd_diff>@@ -29 +29 @@
-<gloss>unable to concentrate (on something, esp. work, study, etc.) (esp. since preoccupied with something else)</gloss>
+<gloss>unable to focus (on something, esp. work, study, etc.) (esp. since preoccupied with something else)</gloss></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2023-02-27 01:07:05" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_uid>robin1354</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Robin Scott</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>We use adj-i in cases like this because we want sites/apps to be able to handle inflected forms. Separating inflectional information from PoS tags is something that's been proposed for JMdict: NG. See the link above.
I think ellipses used in conjunction with a note help to show how this expression is used.
Transitivity tags are not used on expressions.
手がつかない would need to be a separate entry.
A lit gloss should be a word-for-word translation. It wouldn't be helpful here.</upd_detl>
<upd_refs>gg5, prog, luminous, daij
http://www.edrdg.org/wiki/index.php/JMdict:_Next_Generation#Entry-wide_Inflection_Pattern_Elements</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -12,8 +11,0 @@
-<ke_inf>&iK;</ke_inf>
-</k_ele>
-<k_ele>
-<keb>手がつかない</keb>
-<ke_inf>&sK;</ke_inf>
-</k_ele>
-<k_ele>
-<keb>手が付かない</keb>
@@ -27 +19 @@
-<pos>&vi;</pos>
+<pos>&adj-i;</pos>
@@ -29,2 +21,4 @@
-<gloss>unable to focus (on something, esp. work, study, etc.) (esp. since preoccupied with something else)</gloss>
-<gloss g_type="lit">(something) fails to hold one's attention</gloss>
+<s_inf>as ...が〜 or ...も〜</s_inf>
+<gloss>unable to focus on ... (due to being preoccupied with something else)</gloss>
+<gloss>unable to concentrate on ...</gloss>
+<gloss>unable to settle down to ...</gloss></upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2023-02-27 01:41:46" stat="A">
<upd_uid>jwb</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Jim Breen</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>Thanks. I was about to say/do much the same.</upd_detl>
<upd_refs>GG5: 彼女のことで頭がいっぱいで勉強も手につかない様子だ. It seems that his head is full of her and he is in no mood for studying.
中辞典: 仕事が手につかない cannot settle to (one's) work; be in no mood for work
ルミナス: 手につかない cannot settle down to…</upd_refs>
</audit>
<audit time="2023-02-28 04:44:32" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_name>Brian Krznarich</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>Thank you Robin, those comments explained a lot and I will keep that all in mind. I've only just now seen usage [note] tags here and there, and *just now* realized the "Sense note" field in "advanced search" lets you find existing examples.
The [note] is a better approach than what I did. And sorry, yes, I was as bit uncomfortable calling that gloss [lit]. I will not do that in the future.
I see the mailing list is posted online, I'll make an effort to read through things and catch up, especially on NG.</upd_detl>
</audit>
<audit time="2023-02-28 06:23:16" stat="A">
<upd_uid>jwb</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Jim Breen</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
</audit>
</info>
</entry>