Anime

Let’s learn Japanese with Yui & Azusa’s quote from K-On! (Keion!).

Video

Yui & Azusa’s Quote

Japanese: あんまりうまくないですね！
Romaji: anmari umaku nai desu ne!
English: You guys aren’t very good!

Analysis

あんまり or あまり + the negative form of an adjective means “not very”. あんまり is colloquial and informal whereas あまり is formal. The adjective here is うまい meaning “good” or “skilful” so あんまりうまくない means “not very good”.

To make the negative form of い-adjective, you change い to く and add ない. For example, おいしい becomes おいしくない (not delicious), 暑い becomes 暑くない (not hot), 高い becomes 高くない (not expensive/high). For the negative form of な-adjective, simply add じゃない. For example, 元気じゃない (not well), 静かじゃない (not quiet), 綺麗じゃない (not clean/beautiful).

Here are examples with some of the adverbs of degree.

• Really – 本当に e.g. 日本のホラー映画は本当に怖い。(Japanese horror movies are really scary)
• Very – とても/すごく e.g. 昨日のカラオケ、すごく楽しかった。(Yesterday’s karaoke was very fun)
  ※すごく is usually used in colloquial speech.
• Quite – かなり e.g. あのボクサー、かなり強いらしいよ。(I heard that boxer is quite strong)
• Fairly – まあまあ e.g. このホテルの評判はまあまあいい。(The reputation of this hotel is fairly good)
• Not very – あまり〜ない e.g. この部屋はあまり綺麗じゃない。(This room is not very clean)
• Not at all – 全然〜ない e.g. 注射は全然痛くなかった。(The injection was not painful at all)

です is used to indicate formality.

ね is used to emphasise your opinions or feelings when you want to share them with the listener. For example, かわいいですね。(You are cute!) 天才だね。(You are a genius!)

Many people get confused with ね and よ so I will briefly explain the difference between them.

よ is basically used to make the listeners aware of the new information that you think they don’t know or realise. On the other hand, ね is used to share or confirm the information that you think the listeners also know or think the same way as you do. So if you use よ it sounds like you are convincing the listener. For example, かわいいですよ。(You should know that) you are cute! 天才だよ。(You should know that) you are a genius! So it could sound pushy so you need to be careful when you use よ.

If Yui and Azusa said あんまりうまくないですよ it would sound so rude as it sounds like “I’m telling you this because I think you don’t know that you’re not very good!” but by using ね it sounds like “You might know this but I think you’re not very good and I want to share this opinion with you”.

Examples

Adverbs of Degree

あなたに会あえて本当ほんとうに嬉うれしい。

anata ni aete hontō ni ureshii.

I am really happy that I met you.

この肉にくじゃが、すごくおいしい！

kono nikujaga sugoku oishii!

This nikujaga is very delicious!

*Nikujaga is a Japanese popular dish which consists of meat, potatoes and onion stewed in sweetened soy sauce.

この荷物にもつはかなり重おもい。

kono nimotsu wa kanari omoi.

This luggage is quite heavy.

テストの結果けっかはまあまあ良よかった。

tesuto no kekka wa māmā yokatta.

The result of the test was fairly good.

辛からい食たべ物ものはあんまり好すきじゃない。

karai tabemono wa anmari suki janai.

I don’t really like spicy food.

お化ばけなんて全然ぜんぜん怖こわくない。

obake nante zenzen kowakunai.

I’m not scared of ghosts.

Sentence Ending Particle よ (used to tell things that the listener doesn’t know)

この歌うた、聞きいてみて。超ちょういいよ！

kono uta kiite mite. chō iiyo!

Listen to this song. It’s super good!

７時頃じごろ東京駅とうきょうえきに着つくよ。

shichi-ji goro tōkyō eki ni tsuku yo.

I’m arriving at Tokyo station around 7 o’clock.

Sentence Ending Particle ね (used to share things the listener also knows/thinks the same way as you do)

その帽子ぼうし、いいね！

sono bōshi iine!

That hat is nice!

日本語にほんごがうまくなったね。

nihongo ga umaku natta ne.

Your Japanese has improved.

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