～きれない — Too Much To Finish
Attaches to a verb stem to say an action cannot be completed or exhausted — there is simply too much of it, or it is beyond one's capacity. It is the negative of ～きる (to do completely). Use it when a quantity is so large that finishing is impossible, as in 'too many to count' or 'can't eat it all'.
Structure
[Verb ます-stem] + きれない
Examples
料理が多すぎて食べきれない。
Ryouri ga oosugite tabekirenai.
There's so much food I can't finish it all.
食べ (eat stem) + きれない = unable to eat completely
星が数えきれないほどある。
Hoshi ga kazoekirenai hodo aru.
There are so many stars they're too many to count.
数え (count stem) + きれない = impossible to finish counting
この本は一日では読みきれない。
Kono hon wa ichinichi de wa yomikirenai.
I can't finish reading this book in one day.
読み (read stem) + きれない = cannot read to completion
• Positive form ～きる means 'to do thoroughly / to the end' (食べきる = eat it all up). • Common in the pattern ～きれないほど / ～きれない + くらい to stress overwhelming quantity. • Register: neutral; fine in both speech and 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 ～きれない is tested against.
vs ～られない (potential negative)
Plain 食べられない just means 'cannot eat' (e.g. allergy, dislike); 食べきれない specifically means one can't finish the whole amount because there is too much.
vs ～にくい
～にくい means an action is difficult/awkward to perform; ～きれない means it can be done but not completed in full.
More verb forms
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