Grammar Info

N3 Lesson 1: 10/22

中々(なかなか)

Very, Quite, Considerably

Structure

なかなか + Adjective
なかなか + の + Noun

Details

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    Standard

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    一般

About なかなか

なかなか (or 中々(なかなか) 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).
  • ここのラーメンは中々(なかなか)美味(おい)しいね。
    This ramen shop is pretty good.
  • ミムラさんもなかなか可愛(かわい)いよ。
    Mimura-san is very cute.
  • あのシェフが作(つく)るパスタはなかなかの物(もの)だ。
    The pasta that the chef makes is very good.
  • 元(もと)カノはなかなかの美人(びじん)でしたが、性格(せいかく)が悪(わる)かったので別(わか)れました。
    My ex-girlfriend was considerably beautiful, but her personality was bad, so I broke up with her.
なかなか can also sometimes have the nuance of being something that is 軽視(けいし)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'.
  • なかなかの事(こと)をしてくれたな。こんな事(こと)をお客(きゃく)さんにどう説明(せつめい)したらいいんだ。
    You have done something that is difficult to dismiss, haven't you? How am I supposed to explain this to our client? (What you did cannot be taken lightly. How am I supposed to explain what has happened to our client?)
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)'.
  • 先月(せんげつ)始(はじ)めたばかりなの？なかなか上手(じょうず)じゃないか。
    You just started last month? You are quite a lot better than I expected!
Fun Fact
なかなか, coming from the kanji 中(なか) meaning 'within', can be thought to mean the 'middle' or 'most' (A).

Examples

  • ここの会員(かいいん)になるのはなかなか難(むずか)しい。

    Becoming a member here is considerably difficult.

  • 富士(ふじ)登山(とざん)はなかなか大変(たいへん)です。

    Reaching the top of Mt. Fuji is quite grueling.

  • この子(こ)が描(か)く絵(え)はなかなかのものです。

    The paintings that this child paints are quite (extraordinary).

  • それはなかなか厳(きび)しい注文(ちゅうもん)ですね。

    That is quite a harsh request.

  • この作品(さくひん)はなかなかの出来栄(できば)えですよ。

    This piece (of art) is quite good.

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    • みんなの日本語 I

      Page 116 [CH 18]

    • Tobira

      Page 146

    • [AIAIJ] An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese

      Page 36

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なかなか – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (5 in total)

  • Ambo100

    Ambo100

    The reference to the AIAIJ resource only describes the negative use of the grammar (なかなか~ない) meaning ‘not easily’ so I think it should be moved here instead.

  • hungryghost

    hungryghost

    The “fun fact” section describes this word as having a nuance of “bulls-eye example” or “middle example” originally deriving from the kanji 中, meaning “middle”:

    Coming from the kanji 中（）, meaning ‘middle’, なかなか highlights that something is ‘a prime example of (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)’.

    I wasn’t able to find this nuance in my dictionary (旺文社国語辞典 第十一版) however and the etymology seems to be different:

    🈩 （副）
    ｟中心義－かなりの程度に事が進んでいる意を表す｠
    ① ずいぶん。かなり。相当に。「―上手だ」
    ② 容易には。とうてい。「―うまくできない」
    ③ ｟古｠なまじっか。
    ④ ｟古｠かえって。むしろ。
    🈔 （形動ナリ）｟古｠
    ① 中途はんぱなさま。どっちつかずだ。
    ② なまじ…しても無益だ。ばからしい。
    🈪 （感）｟古｠
    謡曲・狂言などで、相手の言葉を肯定する語。はい。いかにも。そのとおり。
    ㊀②はあとに打ち消しの語を伴う。
    【変遷】...

  • Asher

    Asher

    Hi there, and thanks for getting in touch!

    Sorry for the confusion with the fun fact. Our goal was just to mention that it comes from the kanji 中, being that it is frequently written in hiragana. We try not to include any etymological information in the beginner level writeups.

    I can see how the way it was written would make it seem like we were talking about the “far more (A) than expected” section in a way that made them seem related to the previous “coming from …” clause.

    As the primary nuance that this particular point expresses is high intensity “ずいぶん。かなり。相当に。「―上手だ」” (either positive or negative), that is why the ‘middle’ example was given (with the bulls-eye indicating the highest level of intensity). As a ruler doesn’t imply any kind of ‘middle’, that is why we didn’t originally go with that type of explanation. Upon reflection though, we can definitely see how the dart-board analogy may also be a bit confusing, so will change it a spectrum analogy that i...

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