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Unit 28: Adverbs of Degree (조금, 진짜, 아주, 별로, 전혀)

To add more color to your sentences, you can use adverbs to describe how much something is true. Today we will look at 5 common adverbs of degree.

1. Positive Adverbs (Used with any sentence)

These adverbs can be used with affirmative sentences (statements that are true/positive).

  • 조금 (jo-geum) = A little bit
  • 조금 바빠요. = I am a little busy.

  • 조금 비싸요. = It is a little expensive.

  • 아주 (a-ju) = Very / Quite

  • 아주 좋아요. = It is very good.

  • 아주 맛있어요. = It is very delicious.

  • 진짜 (jin-jja) = Really / Truly (Casual, extremely common in speech)

  • 진짜 예뻐요! = It is really pretty!
  • 진짜 피곤해요. = I am really tired.

2. Negative Adverbs (MUST be used with negative sentences)

These adverbs are special. They MUST be paired with a negative verb (using 안, 못, 없어요, or 아니에요).

  • 별로 (byeol-lo) = Not really / Not particularly
  • 별로 안 좋아해요. = I do not really like it.

  • 별로 맛없어요. = It is not really delicious. (Notice how 별로 requires a negative word like 안 or 없어요!)

  • 전혀 (jeon-hyeo) = Not at all

  • 전혀 안 바빠요. = I am not at all busy.
  • 돈이 전혀 없어요. = I have absolutely no money.

Summary

  • 조금 = A little
  • 아주 = Very
  • 진짜 = Really!
  • 별로 + [Negative] = Not really
  • 전혀 + [Negative] = Not at all