might (something bad); be capable of

かねない attaches to a verb's masu-stem to warn that a bad outcome is possible. It always points to an undesirable result. Use it to caution that, under the circumstances, something negative could well happen.

Examples

• 無理むりをすると、病気びょうきになりかねない。

  Muri o suru to, byouki ni narikanenai.

  If you overdo it, you might well get sick.

• そんな運転うんてんでは、事故じこを起おこしかねない。

  Sonna unten de wa, jiko o okoshikanenai.

  Driving like that, you could easily cause an accident.

Vocabulary in these examples

• 無理 impossible, unreasonable
• する to do
• 病気 illness
• なる to become
• 運転 driving
• 事故 accident

Related patterns · Ability and inevitability

• 〜得る can; be possible to
• 〜かねる cannot; be unable to bring oneself to
• 〜がたい hard to; difficult to
• 〜ざるを得ない have no choice but to; cannot help but
• 〜ようがない there's no way to; cannot possibly