How to say "greatly" in Japanese
Choosing the right word
- 大変たいへんadverbCovers the 'very; greatly; terribly; awfully' sense: an everyday intensifier for hardship, effort, or high degree. Typical in speech for things like being busy or a task being difficult.
- adverbMatches the 'considerably; a lot' sense: a moderate degree of change or progress. Use when something has become much better, worse, or more than before, as in feeling considerably recovered.
- adverb, no-adjective, na-adjectiveCovers 'very; much; to a large extent', often with a nuance of 'to a considerable degree' or 'just about'. Fits statements like nearly doing something or wanting something very much.
- 大いにおおいにadverbMatches 'very much; greatly; considerably' with an affirmative, encouraging tone. Typical when praising or reporting that something helped a lot or that one is much in favor of something.
- 甚だはなはだadverbCovers the 'extremely; exceedingly' sense, with a formal, written flavor. It is seldom the word you want in everyday speech for 'greatly'; it really belongs to emphatic formal statements of excessive degree.
'greatly' as 'very/awfully' suggests 大変, degree of change suggests 「だいぶ」 or 「大いに」, exceeding expectation suggests 「よほど」, and emphatic written-style extremity suggests 「甚だ」.
Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only
Japanese equivalents
See also
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