何の言葉13 めったにない(metta ni nai)

Hi readers!

Has it been unusually hot or unusually cold this year for you?

Earlier in February this year, it snowed heavily in this area near Tokyo which usually doesn’t snow so much.

It was such a rare sight for us! 😮 Here is a photo of it:

Meaning of めったにない :

めったにない means it’s very unusual, rare, or hardly happens.

めったにない can be broken down to:
めった+に+ない

We have 2 forms of using it:

1. めったにない (for noun)

a) You can structure it like:「○○はめったにない」

For example,

• この国で雪が降ることは、めったにない。
  It hardly ever snows in this country.

• 宝くじに当たるなんて幸運は、めったにない。
  A lucky thing such as winning the lottery is rare.

b) or this way「めったにない○○だ」

• 映画俳優に会えるなんて、めったにない機会だ。
  It's such a rare opportunity that we can see a movie actor.

2. めったに～しない（for verb)

• 私はめったにお米を食べない。
  I rarely eat rice.

• こんなきれいな星空は、めったに見られない。
  Usually, we can hardly see such a beautiful starry sky.

• 彼女は頭がいいから、めったに勉強しない。
  She is very smart, so she rarely studies.

Similar English phrases:

“seldom”
“rare”
“unusual”

 💡How rare is rare?

We found many questions about comparing めったにない with other similar Japanese words such as ほとんどない and あまりない so here is a rough guide that you can refer to:

Percentage shows “how often it happens”. (It’s just based off our impression so it might be different depending on the person)

All of these words mean “rarely” or “not as often”.

So, as you can see in this spectrum, metta ni nai is the rarest of them all!

１．彼を嫌いだと言う人は、めったにいないと思う。
　　I think almost no one would say they dislike him.

２．子供のころは、めったに風邪をひかなかった。
　　I rarely caught a cold when I was a kid.

３．こんなチャンス、めったにないよ！
　　Chances like this don’t come very often!

４．めったに出会えない、珍しいポケモンをつかまえた。
　　I caught a rare Pokemon that we rarely encountered.

５．彼はめったに怒らないらしい。
　　I heard he hardly ever gets angry.

Similar Japanese phrases:

珍しい（mezurashii）
レア（rea）
稀（mare）