Category: Grammar

わり わりに is a very useful word, but can be a bit confusing. 割り is the ます stem Noun form of 割る, a verb meaning “to split” or “to divide”. It is usually written...

そうにない Doesn’t seem like/Unlikely toVerb ます stem + そうにない そうにない is used to express the opposite of そう(Seems like), with verbs. Nouns should still use じゃなさそう. そうに here is the adverbial form of そう, which is...

めったにない Rarely Happensめったに + Negative Form Verb めったに＋ない is another one of those negative form adverbs. It means “not very much” or “rarely”.It is a lower degree of frequency than あまり, more on par...

なるべく and できるだけ As much as possible なるべく and できるだけ are both words meaning “as much as possible“. Examples できるだけ頑張る – Try as much as possible. できるだけ食べる – Eat as much as possible. なるべく早めに答える...

別に Not particularly別に＋ない 別に＋ Negative form verb has meanings ranging from “Not in particular”, “Not really”,  “not worth mentioning”, “not that much” and “it’s not like it’s…”. That’s kind of a lot, but the gist...