(no subject)

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

When does one use совсем as opposed to довольно? Would it just be the same if one were to say "Эта девушка совсем симпатичная" and "Эта девушка довольно симпатичная"?

Comments

[oryx_and_crake]

довольно = enough
совсем = completely

Эта девушка довольно симпатичная = This girl is pretty enough, This girl is quite pretty.

Эта девушка совсем симпатичная sounds wrong. You can say Эта девушка очень симпатичная. (This girl is very pretty.)

Совсем is normally used to describe some action, e.g. Дождь совсем кончился (The rain has completely stopped.) Ты что, совсем спятил? (Are you totally mad?) Я совсем не хотел тебя обидеть. (I did not want to insult you at all.)

[malaya-zemlya.livejournal.com]

"Совсем" means smth like "to the limit" with the implication there _is_ a scale of some sort that has an obvious limit. So "Эта девушка совсем симпатичная" doesnt sound too good, for there's no maximal cuteness level :)

довольно means "rather". So "Эта девушка довольно симпатичная" translates as "This girl is rather cute". Perfectly fine with me!

These are more of heuristics than strict rules, of course. It is perfectly fine to say "Я совсем больной", for instance, meaning you are too sick to work and live normal life. The implied scale is [healthy,living normal life] vs. [sick, lying in bed]. (Not [healthy] vs. [about to drop dead any minute], as you might think.)

[mricon.livejournal.com]

Does the fact that you can say "Эта девушка совсем не симпатичная" mean that there is, indeed, a limit to ugliness? :)

[snopova.livejournal.com]

I would translate that ( "Эта девушка совсем не симпатичная") as 'She isn't pretty at all'.

[malaya-zemlya.livejournal.com]

No, but there's a (linguistic, not logic) limit to lack of cuteness: no cuteness at all.

On the other hand, there's no limit to _ugliness_: совсем уродливая sounds pretty sloppy

Again, this is not logic, this is language :)

[rednameless.livejournal.com]

"Недостаточно" (cuteness level 30% :)))), i think, is opposed to "довольно" (cuteness level 70% ;))).

[dphq.livejournal.com]

совсем
quite, entirely, totally; at all
уйти совсем (навсегда) — to leave for good
совсем не то — nothing of the kind
совсем слепой — stone-blind
совсем глухой — stone-deaf
совсем не — not in the least
совсем нет — not at all
не совсем — not entirely, not completely, not exactly, not quite
совсем clean, clear, completely, quite
совсем
Syn: вполне, совершенно, полностью
Ant: не совсем, вовсе не, совсем не

[dphq.livejournal.com]

довольно
1.предик; безл.
it is enough
довольно! — enough!, stop it!, that's enough!, that will do!
довольно спорить! — stop arguing, leave off arguing
с меня довольно! — I've had enough!
довольно валять дурака! — stop playing the fool!
2.наречие
1) ( достаточно ) enough, sufficient
он довольно натерпелся от нее — he has stood enough of her
2) ( с прилагательными и наречиями ) quite, rather, pretty, fairly
довольно глупый человек — rather a stupid person
довольно часто — fairly often
3) ( с удовлетворением, удовольствием ) contentedly

довольно fairly, quite, rather, sufficiently
довольно (перед прилагательными) rather, quite, sufficiently

[dphq.livejournal.com]

это наречие