たいして〜ない details
not particularly — the thing fell short of a degree someone had in mind + write + not
taishite kakanai
not particularly — the thing fell short of a degree someone had in mind
meaning: don't particularly write
多少の遅れなら、たいして気にしない。
tashou no okure nara, taishite kinishinai.
If it's only a slight delay, I don't particularly mind. neutral
高そうに見えるけど、たいして高くないよ。
takasou ni mieru kedo, taishite takakunai yo.
It looks pricey, but it's not that dear really. casual
- ない-form
- i-adjective stem
- na-adjective
- alternant
- adnominal
Examples
not particularly; nothing much — the degree falls short of what was expected of it
多少の遅れなら、たいして気にしない。
tashou no okure nara, taishitekinishinai.
If it's only a slight delay, I don't particularly mind. neutral
高そうに見えるけど、たいして高くないよ。
takasou ni mieru kedo, taishite takakunai yo.
It looks pricey, but it's not that dear really. casual
新しい機能は、使ってみるとたいして便利ではなかった。
atarashii kinou wa, tsukatte miru to taishite benri de wa nakatta.
The new feature turned out not to be particularly useful in practice. neutral
お手伝いできたのは、大したことではございません。
o tetsudai dekita no wa, taishita koto de wa gozaimasen.
What I was able to help with was nothing to speak of. formal
Formation
たいして{V-nai}attaches to ない-formたいして{I-stem}くないattaches to i-adjective stemたいして{NA-stem}ではないattaches to na-adjective
Variant notes
- 大して — the kanji spelling; kana is commoner, and neither shape changes the requirement for a negative to follow.
- 大した — the 連体詞 shape, which takes a noun and carries the negative on the copula — 大したことではない, clipped in speech to 大したことない.
Related patterns
Similar
あまり scales the predicate down against the speaker's own sense of normal; たいして measures it against an expectation someone brought to it, so たいして高くない answers a person who thought it would be dear.
全然 wipes the degree out and admits nothing; たいして leaves a modest amount standing and only denies that it amounted to much — たいしておいしくない still concedes the food was edible.
Lookalikes
The same たいして with the sentence around it doing all the work — 〜に対して follows a noun and names who or what an act is aimed at (客に対して), while this one stands before the predicate and stays unfinished until a negative arrives.