adverbial N3 common casualpolitewritten
ほとんど〜ない — hardly / almost never ~
ほとんど〜ない ・ ほとんどない
Meaning
- hardly / almost no / almost never — close to zero, but a trace may remain
Key sentence
最近は雨がほとんど降らない。
It hardly rains these days.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Negative predicate | ほとんど + …ない | ほとんど知らない |
Examples
冷蔵庫に食べ物がほとんど残っていない。
There's almost no food left in the fridge.
彼とはほとんど話したことがない。
I've hardly ever spoken with him.
その村には若者がほとんどいない。
There are almost no young people in that village.
Easily confused with
あまり〜ない Degree scale: あまり〜ない = 'not very / not much' (a moderate amount remains); ほとんど〜ない = 'hardly / almost none' (next to nothing). 全然〜ない ほとんど〜ない leaves a tiny remainder ('almost none'); 全然〜ない / 全く〜ない is absolute zero ('none at all'). めったに〜ない ほとんど〜ない can describe amount or frequency; めったに〜ない is specifically about frequency — 'seldom, rarely.'
See ほとんど〜ない in real sentences
Jengo shows ほとんど〜ない the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar.