～かねない— Liable To Go Wrong

• そんなに無理をすると、病気になりかねないよ。

  Sonna ni muri o suru to, byouki ni narikanenai yo.

  If you push yourself that hard, you could well end up getting sick.

  なり (stem of なる) + かねない warns of the likely bad result

• 彼なら、そんなひどいことも言いかねない。

  Kare nara, sonna hidoi koto mo iikanenai.

  Knowing him, he might just say something that awful.

  言い (stem of 言う) + かねない implies he is capable of the negative act

• この道は暗くて、事故が起こりかねない。

  Kono michi wa kurakute, jiko ga okorikanenai.

  This road is dark, so an accident is liable to happen.

  起こり + かねない predicts a possible undesirable event

• ・Only used for NEGATIVE / undesirable outcomes — never for good results.
• ・Meaning is positive possibility despite the ～ない ending; do not translate as 'cannot.'
• ・Register: neutral; common in warnings and news writing.

Commonly confused with

The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones ～かねない is tested against.

• ～おそれがある — There Is a Risk That
• ～ことだ — You Really Should
• ～ことはない — No Need To
• ざるを得ない — No Choice But To
• っこない — No Way That'll Happen
• ～てみせる — I'll Show You I Can
• ～とは限らない — Not Necessarily So
• ～に決まっている — I'm Sure It Must Be