TAKOBOTO

hopeless, fleeting, transient, fickle
Unrequited (hopeless) love

Unrequited love

The transient beauty of flowers

It was only an empty dream.

vain efforts

fleeting [ephemeral] happiness

transient [short-lived] joy

this transitory [evanescent] life

The common people hope against hope that they might win in a lottery.

Ephemeral life

はかmeans the results gained from your efforts. はかない therefore means that no results were gained despite your efforts.

bamboo4

isn't it strange how 儚い looks very similar to 夢 hehe (Allusion to ラブひな)

KotatsuSama

Wait, isn't "unrequited love" 迚??昴＞?

Ayumi

Sorry if you can't read that. It should say "kataomoi".

Ayumi

bamboo4: Are you sure about はか meaning "the results gained from your efforts"? I searched wwwjdic for it, and couldn't find anything. Plus, if 儚い

Xepo

Grr, sorry, hit enter too early. If 儚い is the はかない that this article is speaking of, then how would you write はか？

Xepo

my japanese isnt very good but isnt there another meaning to hakanai... like shooting star or soemthing?

*

Another definition for hakanai「儚い」is 'fleeting; transient; short-lived;'... added an example with that usage.

EvilKyra

片思い Is unrequited love isnt it?

shiho-chan

はかない恋 a passing love (short-lived love) はかない人生 A life in vain 宝くじに庶民ははかない望みをかける People hope in vain they'll win the lottery.

slopethisway

儚いお花の美しさ The transient beauty of flowers shouldn't this be お花の儚い美しさ？

leanne.nz

Surely this is just vocabulary not grammar?

epeen