Is there any difference AT ALL..?

[BenK]

Dear fellows,

Basically, the title says it all. What bothers me are the words 并不 and 根本.
In English they all seem to mean the same thing, that is: At All. Like in "It`s not like that at all".

天太黑，我根本看不见她。
在英国度假对我并不特别有吸引力。

I can`t make out any particular difference regarding the usage of the forementioned words in these sentences. So are the two totally interchangeable?

Greetings, Ben

[YuehanHao]

并不 and 根本 are not interchangeable; this may be seen from switching the two words in the example sentences.

The meanings might be

并不: not at all

根本: fundamental, basic

But is it fair that your intent could be rephrased as "are 并不 and 根本不 equivalent?" As can be inferred from above definition, 根本 itself has manifold uses, but when negated, I feel it is comparable to 并不； just as "not at all" and "fundamentally not" would be comparable in English.

约翰好

[PengHaoShi]

They are quite different.

The meaning of both, 根 and 本, is (among other meanings) root, so you can translate this as basically. There is no negation in it, the negation comes from 看不见, However, 根本 in this meaning is usually used in negative sentences. But it can also be used in a positive way, such as 根本原则, which means basic principle, where 根本 has the meaning of fundamental, basic, principal.

For 并不, it's a negation, 不 means not and  并 also can be a negation, put in front of 不, it is just emphasizing the 不, so you can translate this as not at all. If you leave out the 并, the sentence is still grammatically correct (would sound a bit weird because also 特别 is putting emphasize to the sentence), so the 并 and the 特别 are putting emphasize on the sentence.

[Webber King]

Can I explain it in Chinese? If you can't understand it well, I'll try to use English to explain.

“根本”相当于英语中的“Totally”，比如“我根本不相信你”用英语说就是“I totally don't trust you"。虽然这个词语经常被用在否定句中，但是这个词语本身并没有否定的意思。

“并不”相对根本来说，本身就含有否定的意思，相当于“Totally not"，比如“我并不相信你”。不过，就语气上来说“并不”比“根本不”更弱一些。

[roddy]

We do ask that posts are mainly in English, thanks.

[Webber King]

根本 mainly means TOTALLY, e.g 我根本不爱你 in English is I TOTALLY don't love you. Though this words 根本 doesn't mean 'totally not', but it is usually used in the negative sentence. If you see somebody use it in an affirmative  sentence, they must be describing some bad things. e.g 这根本就很麻烦 means This is TOTALLY troublesome.

并不 mainly means TOTALLY NOT or NOT AT ALL, e.g 我并不爱你 in English is I TOTALLY DON'T love you or I DON'T love you AT ALL. This word 并不 contains the meaning of negative, but its mood is weaker than 根本.

The original meaning of 根 means 'tree root, source', 本 means 'nature, base'. So 根本 is from the base point of anything, of course it is 'more thorough', 'deeper' and 'further' than 并不, of course its mood is stronger.

[flowertea]

根本  ：at all

我根本不想去。I don''t want to go there at all.

他根本没有那么多钱。She doesn't have that much money at all.

 

并不/并没有：actually not

他并不想去，但是必须去。He doesn''t want to go there actually, but she has to.

我并没有变心，是你误会了。I didn't change my mind actually. You misunderstood me.

[smartmandarin]

Hi

 

1. 根本 means "simply"

 

according to Chinese textbook

you can use 根本 in a positive or negative sentence

 

positive sentence: 我觉得他根本就是一个白痴。 (I think he's simply just an idiot！)

 

negative 我根本不懂他在说什么。( I simply just don't understand what he's talking about.)

 

The two examples above, you can see that "根本“ is focusing on emphasizing the statment which you are trying to express.

First example : 我觉得他根本就是一个白痴。 so 他是一个白痴 (he's an idiot.) is the idea of the sentence, and 根本 is just for

emphasizing the idea.

So you can express the same idea without 根本， just say "我觉得他是一个白痴" (I think he's an idiot!)

You are not changing the meaning without 根本，but the the tone of expressing your idea/thoughts is less strong.

 

 

2. 并不 means "actually not" according to textbook

 

mainly used to deny other people's ideas

 

ie :

      A : 你工作了十个小时，应该很累吧。（ You worked for 10 hours, you're probably very tired.)

      B:  虽然工作了十个小时，但是我并不累。( Actually I'm not tired, although i worked for 10 hours already)

 

In this conversation, A is assuming B would be very tired after 10 hours of working, but B isn't tired.

So by saying 并不累 (actually not tired), B clearly states he's not tired also denying A's assumption.

 

 

Hope those examples and explanation help!

Sometimes reading more examples help understand Chinese more.

Because there are many things/vocabs in Chinese can't be translated in English.

 

[flowertea]

I agree with the words above.Thanks for Smartmandarin sharing her clear and thorough explanations. I forgot the function of emphasizing the idea of 根本. It's very necessary and important to know and also reminded me of some other small details.

 

First I want to translate the sentences in the original post in which Ben asked the question to make 根本 and 并不 different.

天太黑，我根本看不见她。It's too dark; I couldn't see her at all.
在英国度假对我并不特别有吸引力。It's actually not attractive for me to take a holiday in UK at all. 

Second,根本 can be used to mean "completely "as Smartmandarin's words for emphasizing in a positive sentence, such as "你根本就是在说谎 "(You are lying completely!!!)

 

根本 also means "fundamentally".

Eg：1）从根本上说，我们的想法是一致的。(Our ideas are the same fundamentally. )

        2）这一地区的环境发生了根本变化。(The environment of this region has changed fundamentally.)

 

In addition, we can use “ 根本的” as an adj. 

Eg: 1) 最根本的问题(the most fundamental problem); we can also use 根本as a noun. Eg:

      2) 解决问题的根本在于她的态度(literally: The foundation of solving the problem lies in her attitude. )