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+--- Thread: Conufsed at difference in meaning and usage of 随分 vs 大分. (/thread-8857.html)
Conufsed at difference in meaning and usage of 随分 vs 大分. - matrixofdynamism - 2011-12-31
1) Both of these words seem to be having the same meaning of 'considerably'. But I know that they are not actually interchangable.
2) Another confusion I have is usage of でしょう vs かもしれない。 I can't figure out the distinction here as well. But wait there is another word that falls in this category which is もしかしたら. I am yet at loss at making difference among these three words.
Conufsed at difference in meaning and usage of 随分 vs 大分. - DevvaR - 2011-12-31
With my limited experience exposure to native Japanese, there is a lot of canned expressions that use ずいぶん. But how I see it (with my limited experience) is that すいぶんgenerally applies in cases such as quite, considerably (as 今日はずいぶん暑いです) whereas 大分 means a big part of either something. The more exposure you get, the more you'll see it used in certain situations and can generally tell the difference. I'll let someone who understands it better to explain it better.
For かもしれない and でしょう, かもしれない means might/maybe whereas でしょう is mainly used for confirmation (e.g 今日は暑いでしょう。Today is hot, right?). Anyone, someone else can explain the differences better than me, so I'll leave it to them.
Conufsed at difference in meaning and usage of 随分 vs 大分. - gesserit - 2012-01-01
Although ずいぶんdoes mean something quite close to 'considerably', I think it is erroneous to say that 大分 means also the same. I think 大分 can be understood better as "most of" or "majority" so there shouldnt be any confusion.
Ex:
今日の仕事が大分終わっています。 I have finished most of my work today.
今日はずいぶん忙しかった。 I was very busy today.
In fact, ずいぶん can be replaced by similar adverbs meaning "a lot"
今日は結構忙しかった
今日はとても忙しかった
While 大分 can be replaced by other words meaning "most of"
今日の仕事がほぼ終わっています。
regarding your question about でしょう and かもしれない, they share the same general meaning, implying a possibility or a conjecture but you will find that かもしれない is much more common in everyday speech. On the other hand, でしょう is the formal version of だろう and it is much used in formal contexts.
明日は雨が降るでしょう。 Tomorrow it may rain (you will listen to this phrase in weather forecast, always with でしょう)
誰も来ないかもしれない。 Maybe nobody will come
もしかしたら ( and its somehow more formal counterpart, もしかすれば) is a different kind of word, that actually can be found attached to the first two but serves to strengthen the nuance of conjecture, expressing something like "ey, the next thing I will say is a supposition"
もしかしたら、誰も来ないかもしれない. Tomorrow it may rain
もしかしたら、明日は雨が降るでしょう Maybe nobody will come
As you can see, the translation in English is the same. Like もしかしたら, you will find in Japanese other adverbs and adverbial phrases that do not have any other apparent purpose than "strengthen" the intention of the phrase they are attached:
雷のように、その村が襲われた。 The village was attacked like stricken by a lightning
あたかも雷のように、その村が襲われた。 The village was attacked like stricken by a lightning
Conufsed at difference in meaning and usage of 随分 vs 大分. - yudantaiteki - 2012-01-01
But 大分 can be used to mean "very" also -- 大分違う or 大分前 are common. Koujien gives かなりの程度 as the definition along with 大分うまくなった and 大分以前のことだ
Example sentences from my J->E:
今日はだいぶ寒いですね。
たいぶ疲れた
彼は１０時をだいぶ過ぎてそこに着いた。