〜ても始まらない

it's no use (doing); doing X won't get you anywhere

Formation: V-て form + も始まらない; casual: V-た form (〜た→〜たって) + 始まらない

Says that doing something, usually regretting, complaining, worrying or crying, achieves nothing. The speaker uses it to push themselves or someone else to stop dwelling on the problem and act. The tone is resigned or encouraging, as in "no point crying over it, let's move on". It is common in conversation and also appears in essays, and the verb is typically one of lamenting or hesitating, often with 今さら or いつまでも. Compare 〜たところで, which is more hypothetical ("even if you did X, it wouldn't change much") and does not carry the same push to move on. The non-bank 〜てもしかたがない is close in meaning but more neutral.

Variants: 〜ても始まりません、〜たって始まらない、〜ていても始まらない

Examples

今さら後悔しても始まらない。
There's no use regretting it now.
一人で悩んでいても始まらないから、先生に相談しよう。
Worrying about it on my own won't get me anywhere, so I'll talk to my teacher.
終わったことを嘆いても始まりません。次の試合に集中しましょう。
It's no use lamenting what's over. Let's focus on the next match.

In real texts 1 occurrence(s)

じぶんへの戒めとして、書いておく（笑） · 2026年11月7日

なめちゃいけないけれど、怖がっていてもはじまらない。

You mustn't take things lightly, but being afraid won't get you anywhere.

It attaches to the ている form 怖がっていて, describing an ongoing state of fear that leads nowhere. The fixed phrase fits especially well here because its literal sense, "nothing starts," answers the opening of p2s1, where the writer's caution appears the moment he tries to do something. Paired with なめちゃいけないけれど, it holds two truths in balance: neither carelessness nor fear. This is the core of the essay, and it is stronger than a plain 怖がってはいけない because it stresses futility.