Question about this sentence , -られる and なくちゃ

Question

Is this "being able to" or "passive" られる　here?

僕も楽しみに待っていられるようなものが何かなくちゃ…

I think the part that i struggle the most with, is

楽しみに待っていられる

Don't they have the same meaning? "looking forward to"?

I understand so far : "I, also, to be able to look forward i have to have something to do to look forward" ??

with "何かなくちゃ" meaning : " to have something i have to do"?

But i'm afraid i'm making a mistake here, is he trying to say that he "Need something to look forward to" ? but by "doing something"?

Thanks in advance !

Answer 1

「僕{ぼく}も楽{たの}しみに待{ま}っていられるようなものが何{なに}かなくちゃ…」

In this context, 「待っていられる」 is the potential form of 「待っている」, so it means "to be able to wait".

It is not the passive voice form here even though that form is also 「待っていられる」.

with "何かなくちゃ" meaning : " to have something i have to do"?

Nope. I think you are thinking of 「何かしなくちゃ」.

「何かなくちゃ…」 in this sentence means along the lines:

「何かなくちゃおもしろくない」、「何かなくちゃつまらない」, etc.

In other words, a word or two (that essentially mean "no good") are left unsaid at the end. The ellipsis is the hint.

Thus, the sentence would mean:

"It would be no fun/no good/boring if I didn't have something I could be looking forward to."

↓

"I've got to have something I can be looking forward to doing/having, etc."