adverbial N3 common casualpolitewritten

全く〜ない — not at all

全く〜ない ・ まったくない
Builds on 全く

Meaning

Key sentence

I don't understand his story at all.

Formation

Attaches toFormExample
Negative predicate 全く + …ない 全まったく気きにしない

Examples

I knew nothing at all about that matter.
It had no effect whatsoever.
She wasn't fazed in the least.

Easily confused with

全然〜ない Near-synonyms for 'not at all,' but 全く〜ない is more formal and emphatic and fits writing; 全然〜ない is more conversational. ほとんど〜ない 全く〜ない = absolute zero; ほとんど〜ない = 'hardly,' leaving a small remainder.

See 全く〜ない in real sentences

Jengo shows 全く〜ない the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.

Study it in Jengo

Sources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar.

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