Japanese Language Grammar Pattern zenzen

Another article in Japanese language grammar pattern with a specific pattern. It is using the using vocabulary or the expression of ‘zenzen’. The meaning of ‘zenzen’ itself is ‘at all’ or ‘completely’. But in the context of this article, it has another specific meaning since the following pattern after ‘zenzen’ is a negative form. So, since the negative form attached to the ‘zenzen’ vocabulary, it changes the whole meaning. It translates as ‘not at all’ or ‘not completely’.

Grammar Pattern zenzen

The following is the grammar pattern using the vocabulary ‘zenzen’ :

Example

Finally, the following sentence is an example using the above grammar pattern to show the exact meaning of the expression :

Kanji :
生徒たちがこの問題がぜんぜんわかりません。
Hiragana :
せいとたちがこのもんだいがぜんぜんわかりません。
Romaji :
Seitotachi ga kono mondai ga zenzen wakarimasen.
Meaning :
Students don’t understand this problem (this question) at all.

The translation to the above sentence has a negative meaning. It obvious since the pattern following the ‘zenzen’ vocabulary is in a negative form. The meaning of that grammar pattern is that completely negative which means that there is nothing at all. In the context of the above example, the students are completely don’t understand at all the problem they are facing in the sentence. For another example, the following is an addition :

Kanji :
具合が悪いから妹がぜんぜん食べません。
Hiragana :
ぐいあいがわるいからぜんぜんたべません。
Romaji :
Guai ga warui kara imouto ga zenzen tabemasen.
Meaning :
Because my little sister is not feeling well, she doesn’t eat at all.

The above example is also a suitable example to show a meaning of nothing at all or completely negative. In the sentence above, using ‘zenzen’ following with the negative verb of ‘taberu’ will have a meaning that the subject in the sentence doesn’t eat at all. She does not eat anything at all because of her condition.