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

たくさん + Phrase
たくさん +（の） + Noun

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Noun

  • Word Type

    Ordinary

  • Register

    Standard

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 の.

Caution

たくさん may be used before a noun without also using の. 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 の would be best.

In these examples, the only difference is that the sentence with の feels like the speaker is putting extra focus on the people, rather than the gathering that is happening.

Related

Examples

--:--

    たくさんありますから。食(た)べてください。

    There is plenty. So, please eat.

    たくさん雪(ゆき)が降(ふ)りました。

    A lot of snow fell.

    たくさん仕事(しごと)をします。

    I will do a lot of work.

    日本語(にほんご)の勉強(べんきょう)をたくさんしました。

    I did a lot of Japanese studying.

    彼(かれ)はたくさんの本(ほん)を読(よ)む。

    He reads a lot of books.

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        • Genki I 2nd Edition

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        • Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide

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        • みんなの日本語 I

          Page 62 [CH 9]

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      たくさん – Grammar Discussion

      Most Recent Replies (10 in total)

      • Pushindawood

        Pushindawood

        many, a lot of, plenty, enough

        Structure

        • Noun + たくさん + Verb
        • たくさん (の) + Noun

        View on Bunpro

        [In casual speech or when たくさん modifies the whole phrase/acts as an adverb, の can be omitted between たくさん and a noun]

      • Pep95

        Pep95

        I might be a bit pedantic, but I don’t really agree with the Noun + たくさん + Verb structure.
        The only two types of sentences in the examples that kind of adhere to it are:

        • Noun + は + たくさん + Verb
          彼はたくさんたべます

        • Noun + を + たくさん + Verb
          勉強をたくさんします

        Shouldn’t these structures be used rather than Noun + たくさん + Verb?
        ハンバーガーたくさんたべます doesn’t really make sense at all.

      • mrnoone

        mrnoone

        Hey

        We have changed the structure section according to the suggestion

      • jabusia

        jabusia

        Hey, quick one:

        What is the difference between ピザを たくさん食たべた and たくさん(no)ピザを食たべた?

        Thanks!

      • mrnoone

        mrnoone

        @jabusia

        Hey

        I would say that in the case of たくさん, both are meaning-wise the same.

        The former works like an adverb modifying verb, while the latter works as an adjective that modifies the noun.

        In other words, with たくさんの you cannot modify a verb, so you cannot say:
        たくさんの食べた. たくさん食べた is correct.

        In English it would be something along:
        ピザをたくさん食べた。I ate pizza a lot.
        たくさんのピザを食べた。 I ate a lot of pizza.

        But in English that may imply that in the first case you ate numerous pizzas, while the second that you ate huge part of (this) pizza.
        While たくさん, たくさんの do not have that implication and both can mean all of English:

        “I have eaten many pieces of pizza” ,
        “I have eaten more then one pizza”,
        “I have eaten huge part of pizza”,
        “I ha...

      • hachimagu

        hachimagu

        Hi,

        I am wondering if there is a difference in the meaning between:

        たくさん映画を持っています (たくさん before noun)
        vs.
        映画をたくさん持っています (たくさん before verb)

      • matt_in_mito

        matt_in_mito

        Hi!
        No difference, but if you’re putting たくさん before a noun, it looks a little bit neater if you put の there. I will add that some people may disagree with me there

      • Shaun1995ad

        Shaun1995ad

        Hello guys,

        I’m getting really confused between けっこう and たくさん which apparently can mean ‘‘a lot’’

      • EdBunpro

        EdBunpro

        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

        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

        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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