Quantifiers Posted by Ginny on Mar 7, 2010 in Grammar
Quantifiers are words that express how often you do/don’t do things and how much you like/dislike certain things.
Here is an example of a common quantifier よく:
よく勉強します = I study often. (よく = often. 勉強します = べんきょうします/study)
Another common one is とても:
それはとても便利ですね = That’s very convenient, isn’t it?
(それ = that. は = subject marking particle. とても = very. べんり/便利 = convenient. ですね = isn’t it)
たくさん can mean “a lot” or “many”:
お酒をたくさん飲みました = I drank a lot of sake.
(おさけ/お酒 = sake. を = direct object particle. たくさん = a lot. のみました/飲みました = drank)
大抵/たいてい means “usually” or “mostly” :
大抵午後一時に起きます = I usually wake up at 1 pm.
(たいてい/大抵 = usually. ごご/午後. いちじ/一時. に = ni particle. 起きます = wake up.)
少し/すこし means “a little” or “a bit”
今日は少し寒いですね = It’s a bit cold today, isn’t it?
(きょう/今日 = today. は = subject marking particle. すこし/少し = a bit. さむい/寒い. ですね = isn’t it)
全然/ぜんぜん is used only with negative verb or adjective. It means, “not at all” or “not in the least”.
全然わかりません = I don’t understand at all. (ぜんぜん/全然 = at all. わかりません = don’t understand.)
This is a lot for today, stay tuned for more quantifiers in the next post!
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