Posted inN2 Grammar

Mastering 全く~ない (Mattaku~nai): Absolute Negation in Japanese (JLPT N2)

Posted inN2 Grammar
Japanese Grammar Template
Meaning & Usage

✨ Basic Meaning

“Not at all”, “completely not”, “absolutely not”.

🎯 Primary Function

To strongly emphasize a complete lack of something or the absolute negation of a situation or action.

📋 Grammar Structure

全く + Negative form of Verb/い-adjective/な-adjective/Noun

🎭 Usage Contexts

🏢 Formal Situations

Can be used in formal contexts to express strong denial or absence, though care is needed to maintain politeness depending on the overall sentence structure.

😊 Informal Situations

Commonly used in informal conversation for emphatic negation.

✍️ Written Language

Frequently appears in written Japanese, including articles, essays, and fiction, to convey strong negation.

🗣️ Spoken Language

Very common in spoken Japanese when the speaker wants to express strong negation.

💡 Common Applications

Denying knowledge or understanding
Used to state that one knows nothing about something.
Example: その件については全く知りません。 (Sono ken ni tsuite wa mattaku shirimasen.) – I know absolutely nothing about that matter.
Describing a complete lack of something
Used to indicate a complete absence of an item, feeling, or condition.
Example: 冷蔵庫には飲み物が全くない。 (Reizouko ni wa nomimono ga mattaku nai.) – There are absolutely no drinks in the refrigerator.
Expressing no progress or change
Used to emphasize that no progress has been made or that a situation hasn’t changed at all.
Example: 彼の日本語は一年経っても全く上達していない。 (Kare no Nihongo wa ichinen tattemo mattaku joutatsu shite inai.) – His Japanese hasn’t improved at all even after a year.
📊
Frequency
Very common, especially when strong negation is required.
🎚️
Difficulty
Intermediate to Advanced (JLPT N3-N2), mainly due to its nuance of strong emphasis and comparison with similar expressions like ぜんぜん~ない.
Example Sentences
昨夜は疲れていたので、全く眠れませんでした。
I was tired last night, so I couldn’t sleep at all.
彼の話は面白くなく、全く理解できませんでした。
His story wasn’t interesting, and I couldn’t understand it at all.
この問題は私が思っていたのとは全く違う。
This problem is completely different from what I was thinking.
Notes & Nuances

📌 Important Points

Emphasis on “Complete”
「全く」 strongly emphasizes that the negation is complete or absolute. It means 0%, not just a little bit.
Example: 「少しも理解できない」 (sukoshi mo rikai dekinai – I can’t understand even a little) vs. 「全く理解できない」 (mattaku rikai dekinai – I can’t understand at all/completely).
Always used with Negation
「全く」 is an adverb that *must* be followed by a negative form (ない, ません, ないです, etc.). It cannot be used with positive forms to mean “completely” in the sense of “totally”.
Example: Incorrect: 全く美味しい (Mattaku oishii) -> Correct usage with positive might be 全然美味しい (Zenzen oishii – surprisingly delicious, informal) or 非常に美味しい (Hijou ni oishii – extremely delicious, formal).

⚠️ Common Mistakes

❌ Using 全く with a positive verb/adjective.
✅ Always use 全く with a negative form.
全く intensifies negation, so it makes no sense to use it with a positive statement.
❌ Confusing it with 全然 (zenzen)
✅ While often interchangeable, 全く is generally perceived as slightly more formal or stronger than 全然, especially in standard or written Japanese.
全然 is more common in casual speech. 全く is suitable for a slightly wider range of situations, including somewhat formal ones.

🏛️ Cultural Context

Politeness Level: Neutral to slightly formal depending on the sentence structure it accompanies. Using it with ~ません makes it polite.
Social Situations: Appropriate in a wide range of situations from casual to moderately formal when expressing strong negation.
Regional Variations: Usage is standard across Japan, though ぜんぜん might be preferred in some casual regional dialects.

🔍 Subtle Differences

全く~ない vs. 全然~ない
Both mean “not at all,” but 全く is generally considered slightly stronger and more appropriate in formal or written contexts compared to 全然, which is very common in casual spoken Japanese.
When to use: Use 全く for a strong, clear negation, especially in written Japanese or more structured speech. Use 全然 more freely in casual conversation.
全く~ない vs. 少しも~ない (sukoshi mo~nai)
少しも~ない also means “not even a little,” implying a complete lack, similar to 全く~ない. They are often interchangeable.
When to use: They are largely interchangeable for strong negation. 全く is arguably slightly more common overall.
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📝 Conjugation Notes

「全く」 is an adverb, so it doesn’t conjugate. It directly precedes the negative form of the word it modifies (verb ~ない/ません, い-adjective ~くない/くありません, な-adjective ~じゃない/じゃありません, Noun + じゃない/じゃありません).

🔊 Pronunciation Tips

The `tt` in まったく is a geminate consonant (促音 – そくおん). Make sure to produce a small pause between the first た (ta) and the く (ku). The emphasis is typically on the ま (ma) or the whole word まったく to convey the strength of the negation.

🧠 Memory Tips

Think of 「全く」 as “Totally not!” or “Absolutely zero!”. The two dots (々) in the kanji 全く might remind you of the complete absence (like empty circles).

Vocabulary List
昨夜
sakubaku
last night
疲れる
tsukareru
to get tired
眠れる
nemureru
can sleep
話
hanashi
story, talk
面白い
omosiroi
interesting
理解できる
rikai dekiru
can understand
問題
problem
Kanji List
全
ぜん, まったく
whole, entire, all, entirely
夜
よ, や
night
昨
さく
previous
疲
つか.れる
tired
眠
ねむ.る
sleep
話
はな.す, わ
talk, story
面
おも, めん
face, surface
白
しろ, しろ.い, はく
white
理
り
reason, logic
解
かい, と.く
understand, untie
問
と.う, もん
question
Practice Exercises
次の文の（　）に入る最も適切な言葉を選びなさい。 彼女は料理の経験が（　）ない。
少し
全然
よく
全く
「その知らせを聞いて、彼は全く驚いた。」この文は正しいですか？
正しい
正しくない
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