Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 8: 2/13

沢山(たくさん)

Many, A lot of, Plenty, Enough

たくさん often comes directly before verbs

Structure Legend

Structure

たくさん + Phrase
たくさん +() + Noun

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Noun

  • Word Type

    Ordinary

  • Register

    Standard

  • 品詞

    名詞

  • 単語の種類

    一般

  • 使用域

    一般

About たくさん

There are many cases in Japanese where a noun will appear as an adverb, particularly with words that are describing amounts. たくさん, or 沢山(たくさん) as it is regularly seen, is one of those words. たくさん means 'a lot', or 'many' in Japanese, and can be used before a phrase, or directly before a noun, when separated via .
  • 沢山(たくさん)()!
    Eat a lot! (Eat to your heart's content!)
  • この(しま)沢山(たくさん)(ねこ)がいます
    On this island, there are a lot of cats. (Unrelated to the sentence, there is actually an island like this in Japan!)
Caution
たくさん may be used before a noun without also using . However, in this case, it will feel more like たくさん is describing the whole phrase, rather than just the noun it is in front of. If you strongly want to highlight the noun, using would be best.
  • あの(みせ)(まえ)沢山(たくさん)(ひと)(あつ)まっている
    There are a lot of people gathering in front of that store. (Focuses on the store. I wonder why there are so many people in front of that store)
  • あの(みせ)(まえ)沢山(たくさん)(ひと)(あつ)まっている
    There are a lot of people gathering in front of that store. (Focuses on the people. The amount of people gathering up in front of that store is unbelievable)
In these examples, the only difference is that the sentence with feels like the speaker is putting extra focus on the people, rather than the gathering that is happening.

Examples

  • たくさんありますから()べてください

    There is plenty. So, please eat.

  • たくさん(の)(ゆき)()りました

    A lot of snow fell.

  • たくさん(の)仕事(しごと)します

    I will do a lot of work.

  • 日本語(にほんご)勉強(べんきょう)たくさんしました

    I did a lot of Japanese studying.

  • (かれ)たくさん(の)(ほん)()

    He reads a lot of books.

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    • Genki I 2nd Edition

      Page 112

    • みんなの日本語 I

      Page 62 [CH 9]

    • Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide

      Page 78

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たくさん – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (10 in total)

  • EdBunpro

    EdBunpro

    About 2 years ago

    Rather than butcher an explanation, this should help distinguish the two pretty well imo! If you’re still tripped up let me know and I can explain it further

  • Shaun1995ad

    Shaun1995ad

    About 2 years ago

    Honestly, I still don’t really understand, the explanation you posted says that けっこう is relative, so if I used it in the context of the sentence I posted above, would it mean something like

    ‘‘I have many Studio Ghibli films (relative to listener?)’’
    ‘‘I have many Studio Ghibli films (relative to my other movies?)’’

  • FredKore

    FredKore

    About 2 years ago

    けっこう – I have a lot (for me, but maybe not as much as other people)
    たくさん – I have a lot (for anyone)

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