Attention shoppers, it’s ブラックフライデー (burakku furaidē, Black Friday) today. And with サイバーマンデー (saibā mandē, Cyber Monday) and クリスマス (kurisumasu, Christmas) just around the corner, this weekend and the weekends that follow are bound to be busy for 買い物 (kaimono, shopping).

During the shopping spree, you may find yourself thinking, こんなに安いと買わずにはいられない (Konna ni yasui to kawazu niwa irarenai, I can’t resist buying [it] when it’s this cheap). ～ずにはいられない (~zu niwa irarenai) is a structure that conveys a person’s urge and temptation to do something, just like “I can’t resist” and “I can’t help but~.” いられない (Irarenai) literally means “I can’t be here anymore,” which leads to the suggestion that the speaker can’t stay still without doing something.

In the earlier example, 買わずにはいられない, the original verb 買う (kau, to buy) is doubly negated with ず and いられない, highlighting an irresistible feeling to buy: クリーピーナッツの大ファンなので新しいグッズが出ると買わずにはいられない (Kurīpī nattsu no dai-fan nanode atarashii guzzu ga deru to kawazu niwa irarenai, [I’m] such a huge fan of Creepy Nuts that I can’t resist buying their new merchandise whenever it comes out).