In today's article we will study the expressões de quantidade, they are used as adverbial phrases. If you still don't know what we are talking about, we refer to the expressions: muito, pouco, muitos, tantos, não muito, raramente, etc.
The word order is generally [noun + particle + quantity + verb]. When used to modify adjectives, they come before the adjective as in: とても熱い (Totemo atsui - Very hot).
See below for the most commonly used expressions of quantities:
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| takusan たくさん | many, so much |
| totem とても | muito |
| kanari かなり | considerably |
| zuibun ずいぶん | extremely |
| yoku よく | often / frequently |
| sukoshi 少し | a little |
| chotto ちょっと | a little (less formal than "sukoshi".) |
| love あまり | (not) a lot, (not) so much, rarely (used in the negative) |
| zenzen 全然 | not at all (used in the negative) |
Phrases expressing quantity in Japanese
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| Hon o takusan yomimasu. 本をたくさん読みます. | I read a lot of books. |
| Totemo oishii desu. とてもおいしいです. | It is very delicious. |
| Jikan ga kanari Kakaru deshou. 時間がかなりかかるでしょう. | It will take considerable time. |
| I speak a little Japanese. 日本語を少し話します. | I speak a little Japanese. |
| The jam in England is very delicious. イギリスのジャムはとてもおいしいです。 | UK jelly is very tasty. |
| I can play the piano a little bit. ピアノをちょっと弾くことができます. | I know how to play a little piano. |
| The jam in England is not very tasty. イギリスのジャムはあまりおいしくありません. | UK jelly is not very tasty. |
| There are no differences. あまり違いがありません. | There isn't much difference. |
| Zenzen yokunakatta desu. 全然良くなかったです. | He wasn't good at everything. |
I hope this little lesson has helped you to learn a little more about quantity expressions. Decorating and using these expressions are easy, and with time you get used to it.
As an exercise, leave us comments on some example sentences that you are able to assemble using these expressions.