なかなか (or 中々 in kanji) is an adverb in Japanese that is frequently translated as 'very', or 'considerably'. It is regularly paired directly with other adjectives, or before nouns (with の coming between なかなか and the noun).
なかなか can also sometimes have the nuance of being something that is 軽視しがたい. This basically translates as 'difficult to dismiss', but is a bit closer to English expressions like 'nothing to scoff at', or 'not to be taken lightly'.
Fun Fact
なかなか highlights that something is 'considerably/extremely (A)', or 'far more (A) than expected'. If we imagine a dartboard, where the whole board shows the intensity level of a specific word, and なかなか represents the bullseye, this is basically the nuance. '(A) is the middle (bullseye) example of (B)'.
Fun Fact
なかなか, coming from the kanji 中 meaning 'within', can be thought to mean the 'middle' or 'most' (A).
Synonymes
Antonymes
En lien
Divers
Exemples
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このお菓子は中々おいしい。
This snack is quite good.
ここからの景色は中々いいですね。
The view from here is quite decent.
ここの会員になるのは中々難しい。
Becoming a member here is considerably difficult.
富士登山は中々大変です。
Reaching the top of Mt. Fuji is quite grueling.
この子が描く絵は中々のものです。
The paintings that this child paints are quite (extraordinary).
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I have a question about this review sentence, but not related to this grammar point:
この子が描く絵は中々のものです
How are 描く and 絵 connected grammatically? I had a hard time parsing the first half of the sentence (この子が描く絵は) because I’m not sure what glues the painting verb and noun together here. Thanks!
BreadmanNin
I agree that part of the sentence is a bit hard to figure out at first, but maybe the following might make it easier to parse.
「絵」is the subject of the sentence. The 「この子が描く」part describes which 絵 the speaker is referring to. Take a look at these slightly different examples:
この子が描いた絵は中々のものです。The painting this child painted is quite extraordinary.
この子が描きたい絵はよく子犬に関する絵です。The paintings this child wants to paint are often related to puppies.
With these examples in mind, take another look at the original sentence. The「書く」that is used here is actually just the simple non-past form that conveys that the child (usually/often/regularly) paints.
Q: 何の絵は中々の物のですか？Which paintings are extraordinary?
A: この子が描く絵。The paintings that this child paints.
[Edit] I just searched around the Bunpro grammar library a bit...
darzington
Amazing, thank you! I had a feeling it was something like that, but your explanation made things much clearer. ありがとうございます！
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