# Very



## Dobie

Hi! I'm a linguistics graduate student doing a paper on cross-linguistic uses of adjective degree-modifying adverbs like "very", "really", "so", "totally", etc...

   I'd love a bit of help.

 1.  In your language, what is the word for "very"? Where does it come from?  (like "very" in English has roots in the Latin word for truth)
   2.  What other words (like "very") in your language  could fit into a sentence like:  "She is ____ friendly." 
   3.  What about in a sentence like:  "She is _____ pregnant". Are there adverbs that don't make sense there (because you either are or aren't pregnant, but can't be a little pregnant)?
   4.  English has some interesting adverbs like "bloody" or "terribly" or "awfully" that have lost their negative meaning so that we can say somebody is "awfully nice" and it's a good thing.   Does your language have anything like that?  


   Thanks!


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## Kajjo

Dobie said:


> 1.  In your language, what is the word for "very"? Where does it come from?  (like "very" in English has roots in the Latin word for truth)


German: _sehr_, the germanic root _saira_ means hurtful, painful; the adverb is used as intensifier since middle-highgerman times. There are some German words derived from the same root that still have the _painful_ meaning (e.g. _versehren_ = to injure, to wound).



> 2.  What other words (like "very") in your language  could fit into a sentence like:  "She is ____ friendly."


Like in English, a huge number of adverbs would fit in. You need to specify a single connotation to narrow down the scope of this question.



> 3.  What about in a sentence like:  "She is _____ pregnant". Are there adverbs that don't make sense there (because you either are or aren't pregnant, but can't be a little
> pregnant)?


I cannot think of any intensifying or modifying adverb that would fit in -- besides in jokes. Of course, there are a lot of temporal or mood adverbs that would fit.



> 4.  English has some interesting adverbs like "bloody" or "terribly" or "awfully" that have lost their negative meaning so that we can say somebody is "awfully nice" and it's a good thing.   Does your language have anything like that?


Yes, German does have some of these adverbs, too. Kajjo


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## Calamitintin

In Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, (muy, molto, muito), the root is common, and it probably comes from Latin multus, a, um, a great amount of. 
In Chinese, hen3 很. There is also extremely, fei1 chang2 非常, too much, tai4 太. 
++
Cal


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## Outsider

For Portuguese:



Dobie said:


> 1.  In your language, what is the word for "very"? Where does it come from?  (like "very" in English has roots in the Latin word for truth)


_Muito._ As Calamitintin has said, it's from Latin _multus_ (in the accusative _multum_, meaning "much").



Dobie said:


> 2.  What other words (like "very") in your language  could fit into a sentence like:  "She is ____ friendly."


There are standard words such as _bastante_ (from _bastar_, "to be enough"), and colloquial terms such as _bué_ (purportedly of African origin).



Dobie said:


> 3.  What about in a sentence like:  "She is _____ pregnant". Are there adverbs that don't make sense there (because you either are or aren't pregnant, but can't be a little pregnant)?


Hmm, no, that would definitely sound off. Same as in English, as far as I know. Is there any language where you could place an adverb there?! 



Dobie said:


> 4.  English has some interesting adverbs like "bloody" or "terribly" or "awfully" that have lost their negative meaning so that we can say somebody is "awfully nice" and it's a good thing.   Does your language have anything like that?


More or less. There are several phrases with a structure similar to English "as/like hell" that can be used as synonyms of "very". Some are obscenities (replace "hell" with a certain part of the male anatomy).
Literal translations of "bloody", "terribly" or "awfully" would not work.


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## Calamitintin

French: très


Dobie said:


> 2. What other words (like "very") in your language could fit into a sentence like: "She is ____ friendly."


Extrêmement sympathique, particulièrement... 



Dobie said:


> 3. What about in a sentence like: "She is _____ pregnant". Are there adverbs that don't make sense there (because you either are or aren't pregnant, but can't be a little pregnant)?


Definitely no très here! We usually say "elle est enceinte de 6 mois" (so how long she has been pregnant so far). And everyone undestand "how much" she is pregnant.



Dobie said:


> 4. English has some interesting adverbs like "bloody" or "terribly" or "awfully" that have lost their negative meaning so that we can say somebody is "awfully nice" and it's a good thing. Does your language have anything like that?


Terriblement jolie, oui. Horriblement jolie ? Maybe just because of English influence. Sounds weird!
++
Cal


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## parakseno

Here is my try for Romanian:



> 1. In your language, what is the word for "very"? Where does it come from? (like "very" in English has roots in the Latin word for truth)


The Romanian word is "foarte". My dictionary says that it comes from the Latin "forte".



> 2.  What other words (like "very") in your language  could fit into a sentence like:  "She is ____ friendly."


"Ea este __(foarte)__ prietenoasă."
Well, there are quite many of them and most likely I won't remember them all. Here are some examples: extrem de, nemaipomenit de, tare, deosebit de, teribil de.



> 3. What about in a sentence like: "She is _____ pregnant". Are there adverbs that don't make sense there (because you either are or aren't pregnant, but can't be a little pregnant)?


Well "foarte"&co. won't work there... it doesn't make much sense in English either. 



> 4. English has some interesting adverbs like "bloody" or "terribly" or "awfully" that have lost their negative meaning so that we can say somebody is "awfully nice" and it's a good thing. Does your language have anything like that?


"Teribil" is used in Romanian too: "teribil de draguţă". "grozav de" and "îngrozitor de"(awfully) can also be used. Another one that comes in mind is "al dracului de" (where "drac" means "devil").


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## Spectre scolaire

Dobie said:
			
		

> 3. What about in a sentence like: "She is _____ pregnant". Are there adverbs that don't make sense there (because you either are or aren't pregnant, but can't be a little pregnant)?


 As others have already pointed out, the sentence is somehow meaningless. But is language that logical in all respects? 

I can perfectly well imagine the following scenario:

A young man and his fiancée are using a home device to detect pregnancy. The result shows the colour which indicates that, basically, there is no doubt. And he says: 

-You are very pregnant, my dear. [= You definitely are pregnant, aren’t you?]
-I am indeed!

8 months later, carrying twins, she may as well hear from some friend:

-Wow! You are very pregnant!

A question to _Dobie_:

Are you also including *too much* in your paper?
 ​


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## Chazzwozzer

Dobie said:


> 1.  In your language, what is the word for "very"? Where does it come from?  (like "very" in English has roots in the Latin word for truth)


Basically, Turkish *çok *derives from a Turkic noun: _*çōk*_, meaning *"crowd"*, *"noise"* and *"contraction"*. 


Dobie said:


> 2.  What other words (like "very") in your language  could fit into a sentence like:  "She is ____ friendly."


Many could fit, but the nearest shot to _çok _would be *pek*.


Dobie said:


> 3.  What about in a sentence like:  "She is _____ pregnant". Are there adverbs that don't make sense there (because you either are or aren't pregnant, but can't be a little pregnant)?


No, doesn't make any sense.


Dobie said:


> 4.  English has some interesting adverbs like "bloody" or "terribly" or "awfully" that have lost their negative meaning so that we can say somebody is "awfully nice" and it's a good thing.   Does your language have anything like that?


Yes, you might well say *"manyak güzel" *_(maniacally nice)_. The usage is quite informal.


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## Joannes

For Dutch:

1. We use *heel*. It's a cognate of English *whole*. It can still be used to mean 'entirely', 'wholly', in fact.

We also have *zeer* and *erg*. The first one is a cognate of German *sehr*, so see Kajjo's etymology. It can still be found with the meaning of 'painful' in Dutch. *Erg* means 'bad' in a more narrow sense, like French *grave*. Apparently, as an adverb of degree, it was only used with words with an 'unfavourable' meaning at first.

Of these three adverbs, only *heel* and *erg* can co-occur and only in that order. **Erg heel* is ungrammatical.

2. Quite some other words would fit in there. *Extreem*, *bijzonder*, ... Aside from the bunch of words that could be used productively, there are also some words the use of which is very limited, they can only occur with certain adjectives. An example would be *knap lastig* 'pretty tricky'.

3. Pregnancy is not seen as something scalar in Dutch (is it in any other language?!) so we have no adverbs to indicate one's degree of pregnancy.
As Spectre scolaire explained, of course you can think of contexts in which *heel zwanger* _could_ be used creatively to mean something different, really.

4. Yes. *Zeer* and *erg* are examples. We could also use *verschrikkelijk* 'terrible', *vreselijk* 'terrible' and probably some others.

5. In the slang of youngsters this kind of adverbs is a popular destination for creativity. Examples are *mega*, *super*, (from Northern Dutch nowadays also) *vet* 'fat', *neig*, and tons of others (that can be very restricted in use, to just one club of friends).

A construction that deserves special attention is the productive use of the morpheme *kei*-. *Kei* means 'stone, rock' and, as a morpheme, used to only occur metaphorically in the compound *keihard* 'hard as a rock, very hard'. But the use extended and *kei*- can modify virtually any (scalar) adjective now. It used to be really popular in slang (now it's probably 'out' in most groups) and made it into supra-regional (Belgian) 'tussentaal' and into many linguistic discussions.
(Now that I come to think of it, aside from 'stone, rock' *kei* can also be used as a noun to denote 'someone who is very good at something'. As in *hij is een kei in rekenen* 'he is brilliant at maths'. This may also have supported the use of *kei* as an intensifying morpheme.)


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## doman

Dobie said:
			
		

> 1. In your language, what is the word for "very"? Where does it come from? (like "very" in English has roots in the Latin word for truth)


"very" in Vietnamese is *"rất",* and it came from... Vietnamese language ! 



> 2. What other words (like "very") in your language could fit into a sentence like: "She is ____ friendly."


*"Cô ấy rất thân thiện."*- She is very friendly
*"Cô ấy thật thân thiện."* - She is truly friendly
In Vietnamese, you can use other word *"lắm"* for that sentence, as "much, so much" in English. *"Cô ấy thân thiện lắm."*



> 3. What about in a sentence like: "She is _____ pregnant". Are there adverbs that don't make sense there (because you either are or aren't pregnant, but can't be a little pregnant)?


Hehe, in Vietnamese you can say it.
*"Cô ấy chửa rất to."* - Roughly translation: She's very big pregnant.
*"Cô ấy chửa rất nhỏ."* - She is very small pregnant.



> 4. English has some interesting adverbs like "bloody" or "terribly" or "awfully" that have lost their negative meaning so that we can say somebody is "awfully nice" and it's a good thing. Does your language have anything like that?


*"Đẹp kinh khủng!"* - Horrible beautiful - very beautiful
*"Ngon khủng khiếp !"* - Terrible tasty(delicious)- very delicious


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## irene.acler

In *Italian*:



> 1. In your language, what is the word for "very"? Where does it come from? (like "very" in English has roots in the Latin word for truth)


 
Very is translated with "molto". As Calamitintin said, it comes form the Latin "multum".




> 2. What other words (like "very") in your language could fit into a sentence like: "She is ____ friendly."


 
You could use "davvero, veramente":
"(Lei) è veramente simpatica"
"(Lei) è davvero simpatica"



> 3. What about in a sentence like: "She is _____ pregnant". Are there adverbs that don't make sense there (because you either are or aren't pregnant, but can't be a little pregnant)?


 
We usually say: "è incinta", or, "non è incinta".
"Un po' incinta" (a little pregnant) is not possible!
But we could say: è davvero incinta? / è veramente incinta?, as a question, when somebody can't believe it.



> 4. English has some interesting adverbs like "bloody" or "terribly" or "awfully" that have lost their negative meaning so that we can say somebody is "awfully nice" and it's a good thing. Does your language have anything like that?


 
I guess we can use "terribilmente", such as: è terribilmente interessante (literally = it's terribly interesting)


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## jonquiliser

Dobie said:


> 1.  In your language, what is the word for "very"? Where does it come from?  (like "very" in English has roots in the Latin word for truth)



Mycket, väldigt. I don't know the etymology of "mycket", but "väldigt" is related to size (and the same word is in fact used to talk about the size of something, especially in older usage). 



Dobie said:


> 2.  What other words (like "very") in your language  could fit into a sentence like:  "She is ____ friendly."



Apart from the above, there's also "synnerligen", "särdeles" (perhaps it shares a common root with the German and Dutch sehr/zeer), "utomordenligt", which could be imagined in the above context - although all with their own nuances, and all making it sound a bit, hm, pompous. "Jävligt" is also possible, but then, it's very colloquial. And then "himla" ("heaven's", but with no meaning of heaven)  - sounding, to me, a bit "mushy".. 



Dobie said:


> 3.  What about in a sentence like:  "She is _____ pregnant". Are there adverbs that don't make sense there (because you either are or aren't pregnant, but can't be a little pregnant)?



"Höggravid" means a woman who's far gone in the pregnancy.   "Långtgången" (said about the pregnancy, not the woman) means far gone, literally. No other adjectives, as far as I know. Nothing related to "very" (you either are or aren't pregnant, you can't be more or less so )



Dobie said:


> 4.  English has some interesting adverbs like "bloody" or "terribly" or "awfully" that have lost their negative meaning so that we can say somebody is "awfully nice" and it's a good thing.   Does your language have anything like that?



Oh, yes. Actually, the already mentioned "jävligt" would be one of them. Then you can use "förskräckligt" (terribly), "hemskt" (horribly), "satans" (of Satan)... In Sweden there was for a while a strong trend of using "skit-" (shit) in this way, now it's very commonplace; "as-" (carcass) also had it's golden period. This mainly among youngsters. There may be many more, but right now I can't think of any. 

Good luck!


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## Nizo

In *Esperanto*, the word _tre_, from the French _très_, is the most common word for very.  You can also use _vere_, when you mean _really_ or _truly_.  Esperanto also has an affix _-eg-_, which intensifies the word it’s added to:  _domo_ (house) / _domego_ (mansion, huge house), _dento_ (tooth) / _dentego_ (tusk).  This is sometimes added to _tre_ as a suffix to intensify it:  _treege bela_ (super/extremely beautiful).  It also sometimes serves as an adverb on its own, more or less equal to _treege_:  _ege bela_.  In response to your fourth question, Esperanto does use some words, such as _terure_, which literally means _terrifyingly_ or _terrifically_, to mean _extremely_ or _extraordinarily_...in a good way.  Don’t know about the whole pregnant thing! J   Some might find it interesting to know that all Esperanto adverbs end in the letter _e_.


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## Lopes

In Dutch we there also have the interesting slang word 'kapot-', which means 'broken'. 'Kapotmooi', 'kapotveel' and 'kapotver' mean 'very good looking', 'very much (quantitiy) and 'very far'. I think this is only used in the big cities in the Randstad, by the youth.


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## Etcetera

Hi Dobie.



Dobie said:


> 1.  In your language, what is the word for "very"? Where does it come from?  (like "very" in English has roots in the Latin word for truth)


The most common word is *о*чень / *o*chen'. I don't know about its etymology, nor does the word suggest anything.



> 2.  What other words (like "very") in your language  could fit into a sentence like:  "She is ____ friendly."


Yes, there are several words with a similar meaning: весьма, довольно, достаточно etc. 
Your sentence can be translated as Она очень дружелюбна. If you'd use весьма or довольно, the meaning wouldn't change significantly, only your characteristic would sound more cautious. Весьма, довольно, достаточно are normally translated into English as "quite, pretty".



> 3.  What about in a sentence like:  "She is _____ pregnant". Are there adverbs that don't make sense there (because you either are or aren't pregnant, but can't be a little pregnant)?


 On the contrary! You can say Она слегка/немного беременна, meaning that she's in the earliest stage of pregnancy, although this would sound rather jokingly and could be used only in informal contexts. 
But Она очень беременна would be just impossible.



> 4.  English has some interesting adverbs like "bloody" or "terribly" or "awfully" that have lost their negative meaning so that we can say somebody is "awfully nice" and it's a good thing.   Does your language have anything like that?


Yes, for example, in Leo Tolstoy's _War and Peace_ Natasha tells Pierre Bezukhov that their son is ужасно мил ("awfully nice"). 
People ofte complain that such collocations sound terrible, but nevertheless they are used.


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## Maja

In Serbian: veoma, vrlo, mnogo! 
Informally one can also  use "neviđeno" (unseen, invisible), "užasno" (awfully, terribly), "prilično"  (quite a bit)...


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## Whodunit

Kajjo said:


> German: _sehr_, the germanic root _saira_ means hurtful, painful; the adverb is used as intensifier since middle-highgerman times. There are some German words derived from the same root that still have the _painful_ meaning (e.g. _versehren_ = to injure, to wound).


 
Correct. I would just like too add that until Middle High German, they used "viel" (much) as an intensifier adverb like _very_. See _Ih zôch mir einen valken_ by "Der von Kürenberg", 1160:

MHG: ër huop sich ûf *vil* hôhe und vlouc in anderiu lant.
NHG (lierally): er hob sich auf *sehr* hoch und flog in andere Länder.
NE (lierally): he lift himself up *very* highly and flew in other countries.

This usage is archaic today and not heard anymore.



> Yes, German does have some of these adverbs, too. Kajjo


 
Some of these words are _furchtbar_ (terribly), _ungeheuerlich_ (monstrously), _schrecklich_ (awfully), _verdammt_ (damned), _saumäßig _(lousily), ...


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## elpoderoso

Dobie said:


> Hi! I'm a linguistics graduate student doing a paper on cross-linguistic uses of adjective degree-modifying adverbs like "very", "really", "so", "totally", etc...
> 
> I'd love a bit of help.
> 
> 1. In your language, what is the word for "very"? Where does it come from? (like "very" in English has roots in the Latin word for truth)
> 2. What other words (like "very") in your language could fit into a sentence like: "She is ____ friendly."
> 3. What about in a sentence like: "She is _____ pregnant". Are there adverbs that don't make sense there (because you either are or aren't pregnant, but can't be a little pregnant)?
> 4. English has some interesting adverbs like "bloody" or "terribly" or "awfully" that have lost their negative meaning so that we can say somebody is "awfully nice" and it's a good thing. Does your language have anything like that?
> 
> 
> Thanks!


British english can also use the word ''well'' in place of very:
''She is well friendly''
''That was a well good film''
If someone was to say ''She is well pregnant'' it _could_ be understood that the woman is in the later stages of pregnancy.


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## Neriel

In Euskera or Basque it is said like this:
1.-very= oso (like bear in spanish)
2.-It could be nahiko (that means quite good)


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## Nanon

3. In French as in most languages, you can't use an adverb as said before, but you may hear _"elle est enceinte jusqu'aux yeux"_ (literally "up to the eyes") about a very visible pregnancy...

4. In Québécois French, "en maudit" (functioning as an adverb) has a positive meaning: _"chanceux en maudit"_ = extremely lucky. In standard French, maudit means cursed or damned.


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## tilt

elpoderoso said:


> If someone was to say ''She is well pregnant'' it _could_ be understood that the woman is in the later stages of pregnancy.


I'd say French people could understand the same about _Elle est très enceinte*_. Or maybe that she's carrying more than one baby.
That's not really correct French anyway.

* We also have an colloquial expression to say this : _elle est enceinte jusqu'aux yeux_.


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## HistofEng

Haitian-Creole:

*trè* - very


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## bb3ca201

We have a couple of common alternatives in Gaelic:

glé is the most common.  It simply means "very".  Fior and uabhasach increase the intensity, closer to "DARN good" or "BLOODY cute" in English.


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## la enana

> 1. In your language, what is the word for "very"? Where does it come from? (like "very" in English has roots in the Latin word for truth)


 

Well, in Argentina very is translated as muy



> In Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, (muy, molto, muito), the root is common, and it probably comes from Latin multus, a, um, a great amount of.


 




> 2. What other words (like "very") in your language could fit into a sentence like: "She is ____ friendly."


 
You can say:
Ella es muy amistosa.
Ella es bastante amistosa.
Ella es demasiado amistosa.
Ella es excesivamente amistosa.
Ella es completamente amistosa.
Ella es totalmente amistosa.




> 3. What about in a sentence like: "She is _____ pregnant". Are there adverbs that don't make sense there (because you either are or aren't pregnant, but can't be a little pregnant)?


 
It doesn't make sense.




> 4. English has some interesting adverbs like "bloody" or "terribly" or "awfully" that have lost their negative meaning so that we can say somebody is "awfully nice" and it's a good thing. Does your language have anything like that?


 
Well,
here we say something is TERRIBLE (the same as in English) to mean something is great!


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## Oluc (Yvon)

I think you could say "Sa grossesse est très avancée" in French for "She is VERY pregnant".  Less politely perhaps even "Elle est très engrossée" ?  Or, as was suggested,  in Québec French: "Elle est enceinte en maudit" meaning that it is all so obvious ...

We have both adverbs, adjectives and even nouns with a negative origin that have acquired a positive meaning: "?", "c'est écoeurant" (QC), "il va causer un malheur".  I know there are several more but my mind has gone blank.  Can anyone help find other examples?


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## Mahaodeh

Hello everyone



> 1. In your language, what is the word for "very"? Where does it come from? (like "very" in English has roots in the Latin word for truth)


 
Very in Arabic is _jiddan_ it is derived from the root j-d-d which means to be diligent, hard working, serious.



> 2. What other words (like "very") in your language could fit into a sentence like: "She is ____ friendly."


 
Maybe you can use ghayat, which means "to the furtherst limit".



> 3. What about in a sentence like: "She is _____ pregnant". Are there adverbs that don't make sense there (because you either are or aren't pregnant, but can't be a little pregnant)?


 
The only thing I can think of is _inha fi3lan hubla_ "she is indeed pregnant", which I think is a little different.  So I guess no, she is either pregnant or not.



> 4. English has some interesting adverbs like "bloody" or "terribly" or "awfully" that have lost their negative meaning so that we can say somebody is "awfully nice" and it's a good thing. Does your language have anything like that?


 
In standard Arabaic, no.  In collequal there are quite a few, from the top of my head: mout=dead/deadly (as in: he is dead serious - I love tomatos to death), fatha'a = terribly and others.


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## chriskardos

Dobie said:


> Hi! I'm a linguistics graduate student doing a paper on cross-linguistic uses of adjective degree-modifying adverbs like "very", "really", "so", "totally", etc...
> 
> I'd love a bit of help.
> 
> 1.  In your language, what is the word for "very"? Where does it come from?  (like "very" in English has roots in the Latin word for truth)
> 2.  What other words (like "very") in your language  could fit into a sentence like:  "She is ____ friendly."
> 3.  What about in a sentence like:  "She is _____ pregnant". Are there adverbs that don't make sense there (because you either are or aren't pregnant, but can't be a little pregnant)?
> 4.  English has some interesting adverbs like "bloody" or "terribly" or "awfully" that have lost their negative meaning so that we can say somebody is "awfully nice" and it's a good thing.   Does your language have anything like that?
> 
> 
> Thanks!



Hungarian: Very - nagyon
really - igazán
so - annyira
totally - teljesen/ teljes mértékben

we say things like
Kurva jó, kibaszott jó, geci jó, rohadt jó --- and they mean the following(they're almost all curse words)
Bitchin good, fuckin good, spunk good, rotten good
and they all have positive meanings.
and if you're talkin about the word 'nice' than there's a revolution goin on in Hungarian language. it is changing today, here and now.
for example my grandparents would never accept kurva szép as an epithet but kids my age use it often.


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## treulen

Además de lo indicado por la enana, en español (y creo que en portugués e italiano también) existen los sufijos aumentativos:

She is very friendly - Ella es muy amistosa - *Ella es amistosísima*

(En este caso no suena muy bien pero es gramaticalmente correcto).

Y en Uruguay también se usa (no sé si en otros lados también) en lugar del sufijo "ísimo", "asa":

Ella es amistosasa = Ella es muy amistosa.


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## ger4

Dobie said:


> 1. In your language, what is the word for "very"? Where does it come from? (like "very" in English has roots in the Latin word for truth)


Do the different translations of 'very' always intensify the following adjective or do they have other functions as well? On another thread it was mentioned that a sentence like 'He is very lazy' can be translated into Hungarian without the adverb _nagyon --_> But (pero, sino)

A question to Chinese speakers: Is 狠 always used as an intensifier? I read here that it can often be left untranslated (edit: just found an explanation here but it would still be interesting to know how you normally translate 狠 into English)


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## apmoy70

Greek:

1. Adv. *«πολύ»* [poˈli] < Classical adv. *«πολύ» pŏlú* (PIE *p(e)lh₁-u- _many_ cf Skt. पुरु (purú), _much, many_, Proto-Germanic *felu > Ger. viel, Eng. feel, Dt. veel). It's the adverbial usage of the neuter form of the Classical adj. *«πολύς» pŏlús* (it was adverbialised very early).

2.
(A) Αdv. *«λίαν»* [ˈli.an] < Classical adv. *«λίᾱν» líān* (with obscure etymology).
(B) Adv. *«άκρως»* [ˈakros] < Classical adv. *«ἄκρως» ắkrōs* --> _utterly, exceedingly, completely, very_ (PIE *h₂eḱ- _sharp, point_ cf Skt. अश्रि (aśri), _corner_, Lat. ācer > It./Por. acre, Fr. âcre, Sp. agrio, Rom. acru). It's the adverbial usage of the masc. form of the Classical adj. *«ἄκρος» ắkrŏs*.
Both are learned.

3. No, there aren't (only in jokes)

4. *«Τρομερά»* [tromeˈɾa] (adv.) --> _terribly_ which is a late adverbial usage of the neut. pl. form of the Classical adj. *«τρομερός» trŏmĕrós* < Classical masc. noun *«τρόμος» trómŏs* (PIE *trem- _to tremble_ cf Lat. tremere, ToA tärm-/ToB trem-, Alb. trem, _to frighten_).


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## Medune

Outsider said:


> For Portuguese:
> 
> _Muito._ As Calamitintin has said, it's from Latin _multus_ (in the accusative _multum_, meaning "much").
> 
> There are standard words such as _bastante_ (from _bastar_, "to be enough"), and colloquial terms such as _bué_ (purportedly of African origin).
> 
> Hmm, no, that would definitely sound off. Same as in English, as far as I know. Is there any language where you could place an adverb there?!
> 
> More or less. There are several phrases with a structure similar to English "as/like hell" that can be used as synonyms of "very". Some are obscenities (replace "hell" with a certain part of the male anatomy).
> Literal translations of "bloody", "terribly" or "awfully" would not work.



Portuguese also has the adverb _deveras, _which means _in a considerable extent_ or _indeed_.
_ de- + veras (_lit._ of truths, in a true way_
_ veras _seems to derive from the feminine plural of the adjective_ vero_ (true)_, _whereas _de _functions as an _adverbaliser_. 
I also know of the cognate term _davvero, _in Italian.


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## Medune

HistofEng said:


> Haitian-Creole:
> 
> *trè* - very



_Gaúcho_ Portuguese also has the intensifier_ tri (very)._


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## bazq

Modern Hebrew:

1. "very" = מאוד [me'od], same word as used in the Hebrew bible. The etymology is dubious, probably from a word denoting "abundance", "muchness". The root seem to have fallen out of use. Cognates exist in Ugaritic and Akkadian apparently.

2. פצצות (bombs), טילים (rockets), לאללה (loan from Arabic - "to allah"), אחושרמוטה (loan from Arabic - aHusharmuta "brother of a whore"), רצח (murder), אש (fire), ברמות (in levels). Modern Hebrew has this weird thing where nouns denote adjectives without the usual adj derivational morphemes. It's probably a compounding process.
"She is pretty bombs/rockets/fire/murder/in levels/la'allah/aHusharmuta" are all understood as "She is very pretty".

3. The regular "me'od" cannot be used here, though I wouldn't be surprised to hear some of the others used in this context ("She is pregnant bombs/in levels/rockets/la'allah/aHusharmuta"). Another option is reduplication "היא בהריון הריון" (lit. "she is in pregnancy pregnancy").
All of these will mean she is quite far along her pregnancy, showing a big belly.

4. Except for the ones I mentioned, I can't think of something similar to the English counterparts.


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## igusarov

Holger2014 said:


> Do the different translations of 'very' always intensify the following adjective or do they have other functions as well? On another thread it was mentioned that a sentence like 'He is very lazy' can be translated into Hungarian without the adverb _nagyon --_> But (pero, sino)


Well, Russian "очень" can appear in idioms where it shouldn't be taken literally. Apart from that - yes, it always intensify things. Unlike English "very", Russian adverb "очень" can intensify verbs and adverbs too.



Holger2014 said:


> A question to Chinese speakers: Is 狠 always used as an intensifier? I read here that it can often be left untranslated (edit: just found an explanation here but it would still be interesting to know how you normally translate 狠 into English)


The way this issue is explained to students in Russia is that "hen" in the statement "subject + 很 + adjective" is not translated, but rather gives this phrase a feeling of complete and finished sentence. While the same phrase "subject + adjective" without "hen" would sound unfinished and call for some continuation, for example, a contrasting statement:

"我很忙" - complete sentence, "I'm busy".
"我忙" - not a complete sentence.
"我忙, 你不忙" - complete sentence, "I'm busy, you're not busy".

Of course, I'm not a native Chinese, and would very much like to hear their explanation.


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