Is it possible to distinguish between 'cannot'/'does not' and 'will not'?


As practice I have been alternately translating short bits of writing both
from Japanese to English and from English to Japanese. When most recently
attempting the latter, it occurred to me that I have never (that I can recall)
seen a way to specify 'will not' that isn't ambiguous with 'cannot' or 'does
not'.

For example, the stock translation of 'I will not forgive you' (許さない) is
distinguished from 'I cannot forgive you' (許せない) but not from 'I do not
forgive you' (許さない again).

Some of the time this isn't a problem, but especially when writing in a 3rd
person perspective, the implications of doesn't vs won't can be significant
(i.e. 'The man didn't tell her his name' implies nothing in particular, but
'The man would not tell her his name' implies that the question of the man's
name was explicitly rebuffed, suggesting suspicion, secrecy, or just plain
rudeness).

In that specific example, the distinction could be made with a sentence like
'彼女は尋ねたのに男は名前を言わなかった', or '男は彼女に名乗らないと言った', these approaches cannot always be
used and require more information than might be available. Is there a more
general way to distinguish between 'cannot'/'does not' and 'will not' in
Japanese, either explicitly or by changing the sentence structure?

EDIT:

Since the current answerers seem to have misunderstood my question, I will
attempt to clarify here. Firstly, I am not intending to conflate or group
together 'cannot' with 'does not', except in that they are both alternatives
to 'will not'.

Secondly, the distinction I'm trying to make between the two and 'will not' is
not one of tense (present/past vs future) but one of intent. 'I cannot tell
you' implies a very different intent than 'I will not tell you', and it is
this difference which I am trying to express in Japanese.




> Is there a more general way to distinguish between 'cannot'/'does not' and
> 'will not' in Japanese, either explicitly or by changing the sentence
> structure?

How about using 「～(よ)うとしない」 and 「～(する)つもりはない」 (or 「～(し)ないつもりだ」 depending on
the context)?

For example...

> 「男は名前を言わなかった。」  
>  The man didn't/wouldn't tell her his name.  
>  「男は名前を言 **おうとしなかった** 。」  
>  The man would not tell her his name.

> 「男は名前を言わない。」  
>  The man does't/won't tell her his name.  
>  「男は名前を言 **おうとしない** 。」  
>  The man will not tell her his name.

> 「私は名前を言わなかった。」  
>  I didn't/wouldn't tell her my name.  
>  「私は名前を言 **おうとしなかった** 。」  
>  (?「私は名前を言うつもりはなかった。」 _lit._ I had no intention to / I didn't intend to say
> may name.)  
>  I would not tell her my name.

> 「言わない。」  
>  I don't/won't tell you.  
>  「言う **つもりはない** 。」 -- or 「言わ **ないつもり** だ」 depending on the context  
>  I will not tell you.

> 「許さない。」  
>  I don't/won't forgive you.  
>  「許す **つもりはない** 。」 -- or 「許さ **ないつもり** だ」 depending on the context  
>  (or maybe 「許さない **ぞ** 。」 ← sounds strong and masculine)  
>  I won't forgive you.

* * *

We also have 「～まいとする」 and 「～まいとした」 to mean "(3rd person) won't~" (「～ようとしない」)
and "wouldn't~" (「～ようとしなかった」) , though they sound pretty literary. Using まい,
you could say like... 「男は名前を言うまいとしている。」「男は・私は名前を言うまいとした。」

「～するつもりはない」( _lit._ I have no intention to do~ → I don't intend to do~) and
「～しないつもりだ」( _lit._ I intend not to do~) are both used to mean "I won't~" "I'm
not going to~" "I'll never~", and one can be preferred over the other
depending on the context.




> Is there a more general way to distinguish between 'cannot'/'does not' and
> 'will not' in Japanese, either explicitly or by changing the sentence
> structure?

How about using 「～(よ)うとしない」 and 「～(する)つもりはない」 (or 「～(し)ないつもりだ」 depending on
the context)?

For example...

> 「男は名前を言わなかった。」  
>  The man didn't/wouldn't tell her his name.  
>  「男は名前を言 **おうとしなかった** 。」  
>  The man would not tell her his name.

> 「男は名前を言わない。」  
>  The man does't/won't tell her his name.  
>  「男は名前を言 **おうとしない** 。」  
>  The man will not tell her his name.

> 「私は名前を言わなかった。」  
>  I didn't/wouldn't tell her my name.  
>  「私は名前を言 **おうとしなかった** 。」  
>  (?「私は名前を言うつもりはなかった。」 _lit._ I had no intention to / I didn't intend to say
> may name.)  
>  I would not tell her my name.

> 「言わない。」  
>  I don't/won't tell you.  
>  「言う **つもりはない** 。」 -- or 「言わ **ないつもり** だ」 depending on the context  
>  I will not tell you.

> 「許さない。」  
>  I don't/won't forgive you.  
>  「許す **つもりはない** 。」 -- or 「許さ **ないつもり** だ」 depending on the context  
>  (or maybe 「許さない **ぞ** 。」 ← sounds strong and masculine)  
>  I won't forgive you.

* * *

We also have 「～まいとする」 and 「～まいとした」 to mean "(3rd person) won't~" (「～ようとしない」)
and "wouldn't~" (「～ようとしなかった」) , though they sound pretty literary. Using まい,
you could say like... 「男は名前を言うまいとしている。」「男は・私は名前を言うまいとした。」

「～するつもりはない」( _lit._ I have no intention to do~ → I don't intend to do~) and
「～しないつもりだ」( _lit._ I intend not to do~) are both used to mean "I won't~" "I'm
not going to~" "I'll never~", and one can be preferred over the other
depending on the context.

