仕方ない

[thegooseking]

みんなさん、こんにちは、

I know the phrase 仕方ない, which is often translated as "It can't be helped." I assumed it was just a set phrase, however I just encountered 仕方がない (which makes more sense grammatically). Is 仕方ない more casual than this, and, conversely, would the formal version of this phrase be 仕方がありません?

ありがとうございます。

小狼

[community.japanese]

Hello 小狼さん、

That’s right.
仕方がありませんis more formal than 仕方ない.
仕方Means ‘a way’ and as you know ‘ありません’ means ‘there is no’.

Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com