How to say "not at all" in Japanese.
Does anybody know how to say "I can't at all" or "not at all" with a negative verb?
E.g. "My mum can't speak Japanese at all."
Is this correct? 母さんは日本語をぜんぜん話せない。けど、私は少し日本語を話します。If anybody could also tell me how to sound more natural, that would help. I really feel like my Japanese sounds like it's straight out of a textbook and doesn't sound that casual.

Question

How to say "not at all" in Japanese.
Does anybody know how to say "I can't at all" or "not at all" with a negative verb?
E.g. "My mum can't speak Japanese at all."
Is this correct? 母さんは日本語をぜんぜん話せない。けど、私は少し日本語を話します。If anybody could also tell me how to sound more natural, that would help. I really feel like my Japanese sounds like it's straight out of a textbook and doesn't sound that casual.

Answer

Hi Sarah, 
I would say: 
お母さんは日本語がぜんぜん話せないけれど、私は少し話せる。
お母さんは日本語がぜんぜん話せない。でも私は少し話せる。
The formal form is: 
母[はは]は日本語がまったく話せませんが、私は少し話せます。
母[はは]は日本語がまったく話せません。でも (or けれども)私は少し話せます。
*It doesn't sound good if you mix up the formal and casual form.

I hope this helps you.

Answer

To say "I can't ~ at all"" we use ぜんぜん/まったく＋negative potential form of the verb.
Your sentence is almost correct, only that the particle "を" should be replaced with "が”；「(お)母さんは日本語 が ぜんぜん／まったく話せない。」

Answer

みんな、ありがとうございます。

Answer

けど、is casual expression. It's an abbreviation of だけど.
Casual form of 話します is 話すよ or 話すわ(only woman). 
全然大丈夫だよ。

Answer

I think it's quite casual but you may also say like this.You don't need to repeat ”Japanese" in a second statement.
母さんは日本語がぜんせんできないけど私は少し話せます。

Answers · 8

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