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とうてい (toutei) Japanese meaning: (not) possibly | Kotomora
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問もん
題だい
は
難むずか
し
すぎ
て
、
とうてい
解と
け
ない
。
This problem is too difficult; I can't possibly solve it.
His proposal is utterly unacceptable.
Usage patterns 到とう 底てい 〜 ない cannot possibly ~ / there's no way that ~
There's no way I can believe what he's saying.
到とう 底てい 〈 事こと 〉 は 無む 理り だ it's utterly impossible to ~
There's absolutely no way to finish this amount in one day.
到とう 底てい 〈 事こと 〉 が 理り 解かい できない to be completely unable to understand something
I simply cannot understand why he did such a thing.
Related words とても can appear in positive or negative sentences, whereas 到底 is used only with a negative predicate and sounds stronger and more formal.
絶対に works with both positive and negative sentences and often expresses personal determination, while 到底 is restricted to negatives and stresses that something is simply impossible.
まったく〜ない is a common way to say 'not at all', but 到底〜ない adds a stronger sense that the thing is fundamentally out of reach, not just absent.
Don't confuse with 到頭（とうとう, 'finally, at last') shares the kanji 到 with 到底（とうてい, 'not possibly') but has a completely unrelated meaning.
Written forms とうてい Usage 48%
Kana spelling is the usual written form.
到とう 底てい Usage 52%
Kanji form is used but less common than kana; usually written in kana.
Etymology The kanji 到 (arrive) and 底 (bottom) combine to suggest reaching the very bottom or limit, from which the adverbial sense of 'utterly' or 'by no means' developed. The exact historical derivation is uncertain.
