もうダメ

• 読み: もうだめ
• ローマ字: mō dame
• 発音: /moː.da.me/

意味

It's over / I'm done — a dramatic declaration of giving up or being overwhelmed, used both in genuine despair and humorous exaggeration.

もうダメ combines もう (already / no more) with ダメ (no good / hopeless) to create a succinct cry of defeat. While it can express genuine distress, it is far more commonly deployed as theatrical hyperbole — complaining about Monday mornings, a difficult game level, or an overwhelming workload. The phrase has become a staple of internet culture where performative suffering is a form of bonding. Its versatility ranges from a whispered admission of exhaustion to a shouted punchline.

例文

1. もうダメ、今日3回もミスった。帰りたい。
2. この暑さもうダメ、溶ける。
3. もうダメwww お腹痛いくらい笑ったwww

使い方ガイド

場面: friends, social media, workplace banter, self-deprecating humour

トーン: dramatic, defeated, often humorous

正しい言い方

• もうダメ、徹夜3日目で頭回らない。 (I'm done, this is my third all-nighter and my brain has stopped working.)
• あのシーンでもうダメだった、号泣した。 (I lost it at that scene, I was bawling.)

避ける言い方

• 本当に深刻な状況の人に軽いノリで「もうダメ」は失礼 (Using 'mou dame' flippantly around someone in genuinely serious trouble is insensitive)

よくある間違い

• Taking it literally every time — most uses are hyperbolic and the speaker is not actually giving up
• Missing the humorous tone in text when no emoji or www accompanies it

起源と歴史

A natural Japanese phrase that has been in use for generations. もう (already/anymore) + ダメ (no good) is grammatically straightforward, but its dramatic, hyperbolic usage as a catchphrase intensified with internet and SNS culture in the 2010s.

文化的背景

時代: Long-standing phrase, internet catchphrase since 2010s

世代: All ages

社会的背景: Universal

地域メモ: Used across all of Japan. The katakana ダメ spelling adds emphasis compared to だめ or 駄目.