Expressing how much you understand
Open chapter 1 and first use the word support directly below. Then read the positive degree examples aloud and point to the ending used with each degree word.
1. Positive degree: よく・だいたい・少し
Put the degree word directly before 分かります. よく分かります is strongly positive and 少し分かります is cautiously positive. Recognise だいたい分かります as the additional meaning that you mostly understand something; you do not need to produce that nuance yet.
The content remains before が: フランス語が少し分かります. The degree word does not replace が.
話がよく分かります。
フランス語が少し分かります。
2. Negative degree: あまり・ぜんぜん
In this pattern, あまり and ぜんぜん require the negative ending 分かりません. あまり分かりません means ‘I do not understand it very well’; ぜんぜん分かりません means ‘I do not understand it at all’.
Check two places: the degree word before the verb and ません at the end. A form such as ぜんぜん分かります does not fit the school pattern practised here.
話があまり分かりません。
韓国語がぜんぜん分かりません。
3. Read the scale and ending together
Read the four core combinations as a scale: よく分かります → 少し分かります → あまり分かりません → ぜんぜん分かりません. Between 少し and あまり, the ending also changes from positive to negative. Additionally, recognise だいたい分かります as mostly understanding.
Here, よく means ‘well’ or ‘to a high degree’. Do not automatically read it as the frequency word ‘often’, and do not confuse it with よくない, ‘not good’.
4. Give a nuanced answer
Choose two languages or types of content and give them different positions on the scale. Do not add more certainty than you intend: 少し is positive, whereas あまり...ません already contains a negative.
Read each sentence from が to the end. Check whether the degree word and ending form the right pair. In ぜんぜん, pronounce two separate ん sounds, one after each ぜ: ぜん・ぜん. The romaji cue is ZEN-ZEN.