Table of Contents

Quantity Modifiers

This page explains some common quantity modifying adverbs and adjectives.

Quantity Adverbs

Quantity Adverbs
たくさん: a lot of X
すこし: A little of X
ちょっと: A little X

たくさん (a lot) and すこし (a little) are adverbs that refer to quantity. They can also modify nouns using の。ちょっと can be used in place of すこし。
たくさん is both adverb and a special adjective that can use の to modify nouns. すこし cannot do this.

たくさんの魚がいる – There’s a lot of fish.
たくさん飲む – Drink a lot (of something).
少し食べました。- Ate a little (of something).
ピザを少しだけ食べました。- I ate just a little bit of pizza.

すこし and ちょっと often combine with だけ.

少しだけ読んだ – I read just a little.
ちょっとだけ寝た – I slept just a bit.

ちょっと can refer to quantity or quality. すこし can only refer to quantity.

おおく

おおく is an adverb meaning “many”. It uses の and functions exactly like たくさん.
Nuance wise, おおく sounds a little bit broad statement, while たくさん feels like a present number.

人がおおい。- People are numerous. →There’s a lot of people.
おおくの人がいる。- A lot of people are here → There’s a lot of people.

Quantity Adjectives

おおい – Many
すくない – Few

おおい and すくない are adjectives that mean “many” and “few“. However, they only represent a state of something (usually number). Because of this, they are typically used in the Aが少ない/おおい pattern.

人が少ない。- People are few → There’s not a lot of people.
ひとがおおい – People are many → There’s a lot of people
たべものがおおい – There’s a lot of food.

Why not “多い人” or ”少ない人”

The problem with using “few” and “many” in front of a noun like we do in English, is because in English the “amount” part of it is implied. In Japanese, however, the words are closer to “few in __” or “many in ___”。

So, If you try to use them before a noun it comes out like this:
すくない人 – “few in ____” person.
The problem here is that you need to specify what is “few”. It can’t be “person” because it’s being modified by it. However if you specify the what, then the sentence becomes ok.

かずがすくない人 – A “few in number” person. → There are few people like this person.
興味が多い人 – A person with many interests.

However a sentence like this is ok:

人が多い – there’s a lot of people is perfectly fine, since “people” is what is “多い”