I was playing UNLIMITED:Saga today, and I was reminded of a useful phrase that anyone can use. It's the favorite mantra of character Ruby, and even in a way her life philosophy, I guess, hehe.
This phrase is 何とかなる nan to ka naru. First, let's look at the parts that make up this phrase:
何 nan is an unknown thing (often this is translated as "what" when used alone). It stands for any thing that is not specified when you're talking. When you're asking questions, this asks about a specific thing. We're not asking a question here, though, so it just means something, but it's not specified what.
とか to ka is added to nan to make it more vague. You can use this in other ways, like 雑誌とか zassi/zasshi to ka would mean "magazines or something" or "magazines or stuff like that." Those kinds of things.
なる naru is our predicate here. It references some kind of changing from one thing to another. It's the same naru that is used in cases like 大人になる otona ni naru (to become an adult). In Japanese, naru can be used without talking about a certain thing changing. When you use it like this, it has a meaning of things turning out or working out.
When you put the whole phrase together, 何とかなる nan to ka naru means something literally like "Something or other will turn out." When you use it, it means "It'll work out somehow," "Things have a way of working out," "Everything will work out fine," or those kinds of things.
When your friend is worrying to much too much about something, reassure them that everything will be all right in the end by saying this phrase. まぁ、何とかなるだろうね～
Try it out, and listen for it!
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