欠かせない
かかせない
adjective
indispensable; essential; cannot do without
Conjugation
| Affirmative | Negative | |
|---|---|---|
| Present | 欠かせない | 欠かせなくない |
| Past | 欠かせなかった | 欠かせなくなかった |
| て form | 欠かせなくて | 欠かせなくなくて |
| Adverbial | 欠かせなく | — |
| Conditional ば | 欠かせなければ | 欠かせなくなければ |
| Conditional たら | 欠かせなかったら | 欠かせなくなかったら |
1.
indispensable; essential; cannot do without
Describes something that is absolutely necessary and cannot be omitted or removed. Derived from the potential-negative form of the verb 欠く (to lack), literally meaning 'cannot be made to lack.'
水は生活に欠かせない。
Water is indispensable to daily life.
彼はチームに欠かせない存在だ。
He is an indispensable member of the team.
健康を保つために、適度な運動は欠かせない。
Moderate exercise is essential to maintaining good health.
日本料理に醤油は欠かせない調味料である。
Soy sauce is an indispensable seasoning in Japanese cuisine.
Grammatically, 欠かせない is the causative-negative form of 欠く (to lack), meaning literally 'cannot cause to be absent.' It functions as an adjective modifying nouns (e.g., 欠かせない存在) or as a predicate with the pattern ～に欠かせない (indispensable to/for ~).
USAGE:
The most common pattern is [noun]に欠かせない, where に marks the domain or context in which something is essential. It appears frequently in formal writing, news articles, and academic texts.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 欠かせない存在: indispensable presence/figure
- 欠かせない要素: indispensable element
- 欠かせない条件: essential condition
- 生活に欠かせない: indispensable to daily life
- 成長に欠かせない: essential for growth
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 不可欠な: indispensable — more formal, Sino-Japanese equivalent; common in academic and official writing
- 必要不可欠な: absolutely indispensable — emphatic four-character compound
- 必須の: required, mandatory — implies something is formally required rather than naturally essential