不太/不很grammar point · tier 1 · 不太 / 不很 softened negation (not very / not too)
Sets 不 before a degree word (太, 很) so the negation lands on the amount, not the quality — it falls short of the mark rather than flatly failing. 不太 is the everyday softener; 不很 is rarer and confined to set contexts.
Sets 不 before a degree word (太, 很) so the negation lands on the amount, not the quality — it falls short of the mark rat
框 · Frame
[subj] 不太 / 不很 [stative verb / VP]
觸 · Trigger
You want to say something falls short of a quality — mildly negative, softer than a flat 'no'.
序 · The move
1Name the quality as a stative verb or VP (好找, 清楚, 高).Is it a gradable quality, something you can have more or less of?
2Set 不 before the degree word: 不太 (default) and put the pair in front of the quality.Does 不太 mean 'falls short', not 'flatly not'? If you mean a hard 'no', use bare 不 (不好), not 不太.
3Reach for 不很 only inside a set frame (often 聽得不很清楚 and the like); otherwise default to 不太.Would 不太 read more naturally here? In free speech it almost always does.
例 · Examples
1你住的地方不太not very / falls short of easy好找easy to find，我花了一點時間才only then (later than expected)找到。
Your place isn't very easy to find; it took me a while to get here.
不太好 falls short of good — so-so, mildly negative. 不好 is flatly bad. The bar on the degree word softens; the bar on the bare quality denies outright.
太…了
太貴了 overflows past the acceptable mark (a problem, too much). 不太貴 sits below the mark (mildly under, not enough). Opposite ends: 太…了 is over, 不太 is short.
不很
不太 is the free, everyday softener (不太好). 不很 is far narrower, confined to fixed frames like 聽得不很清楚; reaching for 不很 in open speech reads stiff.