大たいして

た

い

し

て

Common wordJLPTN3Freq.FrequencyTop 20,000

Meanings

adverb

(not) very; (not) particularly; (not) so much

Always used with a negative predicate. Softens a denial: 'not especially', 'not all that much'.

この映えい画がは大たいしておもしろくなかった。
This movie wasn't very interesting.
彼かれの話はなしは大たいして役やくに立たたなかった。
His story wasn't particularly helpful.

See all 8 example sentences ›

Usage patterns

大たいして〈形けい容よう詞し〉ないnot very ~ (used to downplay a quality)
この映えい画がは大たいして面おも白しろくなかった。
This movie wasn't all that interesting.
大たいして〈動どう詞し〉ないnot do ~ very much / not ~ particularly
彼かれは大たいして勉べん強きょうしないのに成せい績せきがいい。
He doesn't study very much, yet he gets good grades.
大たいして変かわらないnot much different; barely changes
値ね段だんは去きょ年ねんと大たいして変かわらない。
The price hasn't changed much from last year.
大たいして気きにしないnot care much (about something)
小ちいさなミスなので大たいして気きにしていない。
It's a small mistake, so I'm not too bothered about it.

Kanji

大large, big

Related words

それほどN4
それほど can be used in questions and affirmative comparisons as well as negatives, while 大して only ever appears with a negative predicate.
余あまりN5
あまり can also mean 'too much' in affirmative sentences, whereas 大して is used only with negatives to downplay something.
さほどN1
さほど is a slightly more formal or literary equivalent of 大して, both restricted to negative sentences meaning 'not that much'.
さして
たいして and さして are both used with negatives to mean 'not particularly', but たいして is more common in spoken Japanese.

Don't confuse with

大たいしたN3
大した is a pre-noun adjectival meaning 'considerable/impressive' (大した人だ), while 大して is an adverb meaning 'not very/much' and is almost always used with a negative (大して面白くない).

Written forms

大たいしてUsage28%
Standard kanji spelling; it is the primary form.
たいしてUsage72%
Kana spelling is common in informal writing and when the kanji is not needed.

Etymology

Compound of 大 (dai, 'big, great') + して (shite, conjunctive form of する). The literal sense 'doing greatly' shifted to the adverbial meaning 'to a great extent', which then became restricted to negative contexts.