The grammar of Xには我慢がならん


> おかしな服{ふく}を着{き}た連中{れんちゅう} **には我慢{がまん}がならん。**  
>  He couldn't bear folk who wore strange clothes.

My translation comes from the obvious context, plus the fact that Jisho says
of ならん "Cannot bear not to". But I can't understand how it works. Should I
just learn に(は)我慢がならん as a set phrase, or can the parts be understood
separately?

My thought was that ならん may be a contraction of ならない (which seemed like a good
idea because に always pairs up with なる). But then I literally have: Xには我慢がならん
= patience does not become X. Which makes no sense.

Could you show me some other example using ならん? Do they have to use 我慢?




Yes, ならん is colloquialism for ならぬ, which is a literary/older version of ならない.
Practically, you should learn 我慢(が)ならない as a set phrase meaning "unbearable".
We never say 我慢がなる. This ない is obviously a negation marker, but there are
several fixed expressions where ない has been almost incorporated in a single
adjective.

Other examples:

  * 鼻持ちならない / 鼻持ちならぬ / 鼻持ちならん
  * 聞き捨てならない / 聞き捨てならぬ / 聞き捨てならん
  * やんごとない
  * 不甲斐ない
  * やむない

If you want to understand the なる part etymologically, this 成る【なる】 means
something like "to do/accomplish" rather than "to become" (cf.
[為せば成る](https://jisho.org/word/%E7%82%BA%E3%81%9B%E3%81%B0%E6%88%90%E3%82%8B)).
ならぬ/ならん by itself can mean "that's impossible" or "don't do it".

And also note that this 着た is not "who wore" but "wearing". See: [Use of かける
(N5 question)](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/29671/5010)




Yes, ならん is colloquialism for ならぬ, which is a literary/older version of ならない.
Practically, you should learn 我慢(が)ならない as a set phrase meaning "unbearable".
We never say 我慢がなる. This ない is obviously a negation marker, but there are
several fixed expressions where ない has been almost incorporated in a single
adjective.

Other examples:

  * 鼻持ちならない / 鼻持ちならぬ / 鼻持ちならん
  * 聞き捨てならない / 聞き捨てならぬ / 聞き捨てならん
  * やんごとない
  * 不甲斐ない
  * やむない

If you want to understand the なる part etymologically, this 成る【なる】 means
something like "to do/accomplish" rather than "to become" (cf.
[為せば成る](https://jisho.org/word/%E7%82%BA%E3%81%9B%E3%81%B0%E6%88%90%E3%82%8B)).
ならぬ/ならん by itself can mean "that's impossible" or "don't do it".

And also note that this 着た is not "who wore" but "wearing". See: [Use of かける
(N5 question)](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/29671/5010)

