Is it possible to distinguish between 'cannot'/'does not' and 'will not'?

Question

As practice I have been alternately translating short bits of writing both from Japanese to English and from English to Japanese. When most recently attempting the latter, it occurred to me that I have never (that I can recall) seen a way to specify 'will not' that isn't ambiguous with 'cannot' or 'does not'.

For example, the stock translation of 'I will not forgive you' (許さない) is distinguished from 'I cannot forgive you' (許せない) but not from 'I do not forgive you' (許さない again).

Some of the time this isn't a problem, but especially when writing in a 3rd person perspective, the implications of doesn't vs won't can be significant (i.e. 'The man didn't tell her his name' implies nothing in particular, but 'The man would not tell her his name' implies that the question of the man's name was explicitly rebuffed, suggesting suspicion, secrecy, or just plain rudeness).

In that specific example, the distinction could be made with a sentence like '彼女は尋ねたのに男は名前を言わなかった', or '男は彼女に名乗らないと言った', these approaches cannot always be used and require more information than might be available. Is there a more general way to distinguish between 'cannot'/'does not' and 'will not' in Japanese, either explicitly or by changing the sentence structure?

EDIT:

Since the current answerers seem to have misunderstood my question, I will attempt to clarify here. Firstly, I am not intending to conflate or group together 'cannot' with 'does not', except in that they are both alternatives to 'will not'.

Secondly, the distinction I'm trying to make between the two and 'will not' is not one of tense (present/past vs future) but one of intent. 'I cannot tell you' implies a very different intent than 'I will not tell you', and it is this difference which I am trying to express in Japanese.

Answer 1

Is there a more general way to distinguish between 'cannot'/'does not' and 'will not' in Japanese, either explicitly or by changing the sentence structure?

How about using 「～(よ)うとしない」 and 「～(する)つもりはない」 (or 「～(し)ないつもりだ」 depending on the context)?

For example...

「男は名前を言わなかった。」
The man didn't/wouldn't tell her his name.
「男は名前を言おうとしなかった。」
The man would not tell her his name.

「男は名前を言わない。」
The man does't/won't tell her his name.
「男は名前を言おうとしない。」
The man will not tell her his name.

「私は名前を言わなかった。」
I didn't/wouldn't tell her my name.
「私は名前を言おうとしなかった。」
^{(?「私は名前を言うつもりはなかった。」 lit. I had no intention to / I didn't intend to say may name.)}
I would not tell her my name.

「言わない。」
I don't/won't tell you.
「言うつもりはない。」 -- or 「言わないつもりだ」 depending on the context
I will not tell you.

「許さない。」
I don't/won't forgive you.
「許すつもりはない。」 -- or 「許さないつもりだ」 depending on the context
^{(or maybe 「許さないぞ。」 ← sounds strong and masculine)}
I won't forgive you.

---

We also have 「～まいとする」 and 「～まいとした」 to mean "(3rd person) won't~" (「～ようとしない」) and "wouldn't~" (「～ようとしなかった」) , though they sound pretty literary. Using まい, you could say like... 「男は名前を言うまいとしている。」「男は・私は名前を言うまいとした。」

「～するつもりはない」(lit. I have no intention to do~ → I don't intend to do~) and 「～しないつもりだ」(lit. I intend not to do~) are both used to mean "I won't~" "I'm not going to~" "I'll never~", and one can be preferred over the other depending on the context. 　

Answer 2

I have to nitpick a bit to get to a plausible answer. First, I would not group cannot and does not as part of the same type of expressions. While cannot refers to the possibility (in this case, lack of it, from the idea that something that cannot do something is unable to do it), does not and will not are more closely tied together, as something that is the inaction in its present and future tenses.

So, part of the problem with this is the fact that Japanese does not have a clear present/future distinction. Tenses regarding the present/future are discerned by mostly context. This is somewhat true of English as well, and is dependent on helping verbs to accomplish this distinction.

Using your examples, think on the following:

男は彼女に名乗らないと言った
He told her that he will not give her his name.

男は彼女に名乗れないと言った
He told her that he cannot give her his name.

男は彼女に名乗っていないと言った
He told her that he is not telling her his name (right this moment).

Looking at the conjugation and presence or absence of helping verbs is probably the most concise way of determining which is being said.

In addition, if your point is to try and express an action that does not happen as part of a sequence of actions, or as an action that has no need to happen, you might consider this form, though it is a bit irregular:

男は彼女に名乗ることはないと言った
He told her that he will not give her his name (as he has no need to and so will not be done).

EDIT: Adding the section below.

If the idea is to differentiate intent versus an action just not happening, you'd mark intent with つもり. For example:

男は彼女に名乗るつもりはないと言った
He told her that he has no intention of giving her his name.

...or likewise:

男は彼女に名乗らないつもりだと言った
He told her that he intends to not tell her his name (which sounds a bit strange in English).

Answer 3

I think that the issue is ambiguity of the so-called present-tense in many languages in general. By saying 'will not forgive' does that imply that you currently forgive the person, but will not in the future? Or is it present progressive, 'I am not forgiving you', which can be used colloquially as well, but to mean indefinitely? 'I am not going to forgive you' implies that this non-forgiveness is never-ending, so the nuance is equivalent to 'I will never forgive you.'

English verbs (non-auxiliary) also do not conjugate to future tense. You have to add a helping verb: will, won't, did, didn't, etc. 'I caught a fish' is fine but 'I catch a fish' is strange. Why is that? Because the present is fluid and the action of catching a fish either happened, is happening, or will happen. Even if you stop time, you will be 'catching a fish' indefinitely.

Where exactly does the present end and the future begin?

It is much easier to just be specific when applicable, such as 「今はお前を許せない 。」「決してお前を許せない。」Other than that, context and nuance are your guides.

「彼女は尋ねたのに男は名前を言わなかった」

'She inquired, but the man wouldn't give his name.' [There is only past tense here]

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「男は彼女に'名乗らない'と言った。」

(The man told her) 'I will not give you my name.'　[indefinite]

As far as conflating 'cannot' and 'does not', I sincerely do not see the reason for this.

You also mention 'does not' is also indefinite. That is why we use the infinitive form of verbs to indicate present tense. If you were to ask 'When exactly does he not forgive her?' the answer would be the same in English or Japanese: A confused look.

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Answer 4

• 'cannot': 許せない
• 'does not': 許していない
• 'will not': 許さない

"Does not" is talking about a state, the state of forgiveness. It doesn't imply it will forever hold true - one day he may forgive right?

We can use the grammar point ～ていません to say the current state of something. 銀行に行っています, means he is at the bank - right now - because he went there and that is now his current "state".

So in your case:

• 'Can't say': 言えない
• 'Not saying': 言ってない
• 'Won't say': 言わない