Grammar Info

N3 Lesson 1: 11/22

(あま)So much...that

Structure

Verb + あまり + (Negative Result) Phrase
[い]Adjective[さ]+ + あまり + (Negative Result) Phrase
[い]Adjective[み]+ + あまり + (Negative Result) Phrase
[な]Adjective + + あまり + (Negative Result) Phrase
Noun + + あまり + (Negative Result) Phrase

Details

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    Standard

About あまり

As a noun, あまり means 'excess', and refers to an amount of something that is in surplus. This noun is quite often used after many different types of words, to indicate that something happened/exists to an excessive degree (which then resulted in something negative occurring). By itself, (あま)り is not negative. However, this grammar point can be thought of as a set phrase that is generally used in negative situations.

To use あまり, you will need to attach it to the end of the following structures. A verb, an い-Adjective (that has been turned into a noun through the use of さ or み) followed by の, a な-Adjective followed by な, or a noun followed by の. Then, after あまり, a (B) phrase will highlight what the negative result was.

Caution

The tense of the overall sentence will be dependent on the first clause. Therefore, it is common to see the verb before あまり being used in several different tenses.

  • 先輩(せんぱい)()(かい)(さけ)沢山(たくさん)()んだあまり一人(ひとり)(かえ)ことができなかった
    Senpai drank so much at the party that he couldn't get home by himself.
  • 最近(さいきん)彼女(かのじょ)(わか)れた友達(ともだち)心配(しんぱい)するあまり友達(ともだち)(はな)()()った
    I was so worried about my friend, who has broken up with his girlfriend recently, that I went to his place to listen to him vent.
  • 社長(しゃちょう)社員(しゃいん)全員(ぜんいん)(おそ)れられているあまり(だれ)社長(しゃちょう)提案(ていあん)否定(ひてい)ない
    The CEO of our company is so feared by all of the workers that no one will criticize his decisions.

Examples

--:--

    トムは(おどろ)(あま)(なに)()えなかった。

    Tom was so surprised that he was speechless.

    トムは(おどろ)(あま)(なに)()えなかった。

    Tom was so surprised that he was speechless.

      美味(おい)(あま)()()きることはない。

      It is so delicious that I can never get tired of eating it.

      (かな)(あま)言葉(ことば)(うしな)った。

      I was so distraught that I was at a loss for words.

      (くる)(あま)(おお)きな(こえ)()してしまった。

      The pain was so unbearable that I shouted out loud.

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        あまり – Grammar Discussion

        Most Recent Replies (20 in total)

        • mrnoone

          mrnoone

          English translation:
          so much…that

          Structure
          Verb + あまり
          Verb[ ] + あまり
          なAdj + な + あまり
          Noun・の + あまり
          いAdj[ ]・の + あまり

          Explanation:
          [A あまり B・A surpasses a threshold and causes B・tense is dependent on the main clause・often used with words describing feelings]

          View on Bunpro

        • seanblue

          seanblue

          Do people actually speak the way these example sentences are written? I feel like most of them should be using あまりに instead of just あまり...

        • mrnoone

          mrnoone

          Hey

          Actually, 「あまり」by itself is used more often, especially in speechm, than あまりに. I think it might be because it’s shorter.

          Cheers!

        • seanblue

          seanblue

          That’s so interesting. I’ll have to look out for it more when reading and watching anime.

        • Daru

          Daru

          Hey, I noticed a mistake on the notes of this grammar point:

          The references cite to page 72 of A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar, and while that page is indeed related to あまり, it’s targeted towards the use of “not much”, as in 「昨日、あまり寝られなかった」

          I dug through my books and found out that the actual use seen here is on page 3 of A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar. Could we update that accordingly?

          Thanks in advance!

        • mrnoone

          mrnoone

          Fixed!

          Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you very much!

        • Daru

          Daru

          It’s no inconvenience! I work on app development too so I know how these things go, I’m just happy to help!

        • Johnathan-Weir

          Johnathan-Weir

          In this video they also use the construction:

          あまりの(名詞)に

        • Johnathan-Weir

          Johnathan-Weir

        • CrisH

          CrisH

          A general question about how the み suffix applies here. I’ve just looked it up, as I’d not come across it before, and wiktionary says that it expresses the quality of an adjective, where さ expresses the degree of said quality. Since the grammar point is specifically about such a degree as to cause a result, when would the み version be used? It doesn’t seem there are any examples of it to try to compare the two, either.

          Thanks,
          Cris

        • Daru

          Daru

          Hey @CrisH!

          I’d like to first build upon what you’ve already said. Both ~み and ~さ nominalize adjectives. Note the following:

          • Not all adjectives can nominalize into BOTH み and さ.
          • When you’re using ~み (悲しみ・温かみ・厚み)you’re just describing what you see and making it a noun. Which is why you often see it as “-ness”: Sadness, Warmness (literal), Thickness. This doesn’t work with ALL adjectives, for example you can’t stay 大きみ since “bigness” isn’t really a thing, but…
          • You can say how big a big thing is. 大きさ・重さ would be closer to “size” and “weight”, since you can measure it or compare levels of.
        • pasi

          pasi

          Hey, I have a question about one of the examples for this grammar point. This isn’t strictly related to the grammar in question but other part of the sentence:

          旅行への楽しみさの余り、今日は寝れなさそう

          What is the なさ in 寝れなさそう?

        • IcyIceBear

          IcyIceBear

          It’s how the negative verb pairs with そう

          そう grammar discussion

          Helpful comment from that discussion

        • schumi

          schumi

          Still about the example sentence
          旅行への楽しみさのあまり、今日は寝れなさそう。

          I’m fine with either 楽しみ or 楽しさ and the difference was nicely explained by @Daru above. However, I am seriously confused that we have both み and さ at the same time. Is this really correct? It seems I can find this combination nowhere else and (if that counts for anything) it does not seem to make so much logical sense to nominalize first with み and then nominalize again with さ. It does make sense maybe to say you nominalize 楽しみ as a な-Adjective? Anyway I would just like to confirm that this isn’t a typo.

        • Warrie

          Warrie

          I came here because I stumbled upon the same issue. Could anyone explain this please?

        • nazump

          nazump

          This grammar point trips me up nearly every single time. I’m so used to using it in negative sentences that I am finding it hard to train my brain to recognize when to use it in a positive way

        • Isurandil492

          Isurandil492

          The explanation says:

          [い]Adjective[み]+ の + あまり + (Negative Result) Phrase

          The sentence is:

          旅行が楽しみ____、今日は寝れなさそう。

          “のあまり” fails hard and gets corrected to “なあまり”. Someone please explain

        • Fuga

          Fuga

          Hey @Isurandil492 !

          This gets corrected to なあまり since 楽しみ is a な-adjective! Since it is a な-adjective, it will follow the structure ‘[な]Adjective + な + あまり + (Negative Result) Phrase’

          I hope this answers your question!

        • casual

          casual

          楽しみ is such a confusing word if you think about it too much. Dictionaries also list it as a noun in addition to な-adjective, and there are usages like 楽しみの一つ、楽しみのために、楽しみの方が that place it as a noun.
          I think it has something to do with expectation of enjoyment vs just enjoyment in vacuum? But not sure.

          I’m just glad this sentence no longer uses 「楽しみさ」

        • Isurandil492

          Isurandil492

          So, the issue is that it is not a form of 楽しい, but a word on its own. How would that sentence have to look if we were to use 楽しい?

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