あまり~ない
Meanings
- not very
- not much
- not really
- hardly
About this pattern
Explanation
あまり~ない is used to express that a degree is not as much as one might expect or would like. It emphasizes a lower degree or extent of the described property, often with a sense of limitation or surprise. It is commonly used with verbs to indicate you don’t do something very much, with nouns to indicate you don’t have much of something, and with adjectives to indicate something isn’t very X. It carries a soft, understated tone and is more natural in everyday speech than a blunt negative. In many cases, you can replace ~ない with ~ません in formal writing or speech.
Learn in context
Example sentences
I don’t read much.
I don’t watch many movies.
The food at this restaurant isn’t very tasty.
He doesn’t have much money.
This car isn’t very expensive.
There are many days that aren’t very busy.
Keep studying
More N4 patterns
Or something; Any... (with question words); No matter (who)
View detailseasy to (do); likely to (happen); easy to be affected by
View detailsDifficult to; Hard to; Not easy to do something
View detailsGradually; Little by little; Step by step
View detailsmore and more; rapidly; increasing quickly; progressively
View detailsWe/They/You all (plural forms); These/Those (plural demonstratives); Plural suffix for certain pronouns and demonstratives
View details