とても

Japanese

Alternative spelling
迚も

Clipping of とてもかくても (“no matter how, not at all”), used with negative verbs. The sense "very, exceedingly" is a shift from the earlier sense of "no matter how", and was first attested around 1910-1920^[1]. Compare 全然.

とても • (totemo)

very, exceedingly, awfully [from 20th c.]
- 1924, 芥川龍之介, 澄江堂雑記^[1]
  「とても安(やす)い」とか「とても寒(さむ)い」と云(い)う「とても」の東(とう)京(きょう)の言(こと)葉(ば)になり出(だ)したのは数(すう)年(ねん)以(い)前(ぜん)のことである。
  “totemo yasui” toka “totemo samui” toiu “totemo” no Tōkyō no kotoba ni naridashita no wa sūnen izen no koto de aru.
  It was a few years ago that the word “totemo” began to be used in Tokyo in phrases like “very cheap” or “very cold.”
とても楽(たの)しかったです。
Totemo tanoshikatta desu.
It was very fun.

とても残(ざん)念(ねん)です。
Totemo zannen desu.
It's truly a shame.

とても助(たす)かります。
Totemo tasukarimasu.
It will help greatly.

とても愛(あい)されている
totemo aisareteiru
loved very much
(before a negative form) not at all, at all, by no means
自(じ)分(ぶん)にはとてもできない仕(し)事(ごと)だ。
Jibun ni wa totemo dekinai shigotoda.
It's work that I could not possibly do.

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 “とて-も”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), 2nd edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2000-2002, released online 2007, →ISBN, concise edition entry available here
^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN