100145
For example,「ゼロではないけど、あまり多くない。」

多くない = It is not much あまり多くない = It is not very much

Is 多くない by itself “smaller” than あまり多くない？ In other words, does あまり lessen the
strength of the negative verb 多くない? Or, on the contrary, does あまり reinforce
the negative verb and make あまり多くない smaller than 多くない by itself？
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-02T00:00:51.387
100144
2023-07-02T08:35:07.440
2023-07-02T00:03:19.680
51536
51536
question
word-usage
Does あまり “increase” or “lessen” the negative verb?
あまり is "(not) very", and the literal meaning of あまり多くない is "not very large in
number/volume". Likewise, あまり嬉しくない is "not very happy" rather than "very
unhappy".

Although あまり is primarily used to "soften" the sentence, it does not
necessarily correspond to the objective degree of largeness, happiness, etc.
The main difference between 嬉しくない and あまり嬉しくない is that the former sounds
direct whereas the latter sounds mild and euphemistic; the objective
difference in the degree of happiness is often unimportant. When you hear
someone say あまり嬉しくなかった, you should not take it like "Oh, so you were happy at
least a little, if not _very_ happy."

To make a clear contrast between "large" and "very large", you can use
そこまで(は), それほど(は) or そんなに(は).

  * 多いけど、そこまで多くはない。  
There are many, but not _that_ many.

  * そこまでは嬉しくなかった。  
I was not _that_ happy (although I was happy at least a little).

On the other hand, 多いけどあまり多くない simply sounds confusing.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-02T04:25:53.953
100145
2023-07-02T08:35:07.440
2023-07-02T08:35:07.440
5010
5010
100144
answer