What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of totemo, which means very and omoshiroi, which means interesting or funny.
Which one should you use?
While とても面白い is a versatile option, other forms exist depending on the level of intensity and tone. For example, すごく面白い means extremely interesting and マジで面白い means seriously interesting. For a more formal tone, you might use 非常に興味深い or 大変おもしろい.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
とても面白い is a versatile way to express interest and is suitable for both formal and informal contexts. To make it more polite and suitable for most social situations, you can add desu to the end to say とても面白いです. If you want to be more casual or colloquial, you can replace totemo with meccha to say めっちゃ面白い or use the informal すごく面白い or マジで面白い. In strictly formal situations, 非常に興味深い or 大変おもしろい are appropriate.
How does it change in a sentence?
To express that something was very interesting in the past, change omoshiroi to the past tense form omoshirokatta (e.g., とても面白かった).
How do you pronounce it?
totemo omoshiroi
Did you know?
- The word omoshiroi is written with the kanji 面 meaning 'face' and 白い meaning 'white'.
- When someone says omoshiroi during a business meeting, they may actually be using it as a polite way to signal that an idea is too unconventional or impractical to implement.
- In social settings, a Japanese speaker might say omoshiroi with a flat tone and a slight frown to imply that something is 'strange' or 'peculiar' rather than 'interesting'.
Examples in context
- とても面白いです。It's very interesting.Tatoeba #2064477 by bunbuku, translation #1853743 by Spamster
- 彼の本はとても面白い。His book is very interesting.Tatoeba #2064479 by bunbuku, translation #1441679 by CH
- それはとても面白いね？It's very interesting, isn't it?Tatoeba #8960491 by Ninja, translation #7126601 by CM
- 先生の説明は非常に興味深いです。The teacher's explanation is very interesting.
- この本はとても面白いですよ。This book is very interesting.
- 映画の内容は大変おもしろかったです。The movie was very interesting.
- そのドキュメンタリー、すごく面白かったよ！That documentary was really interesting!
- この映画、マジで面白かった！This movie was seriously interesting!
- 14 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Ren and Yui are talking about a movie they watched.
- 蓮 Renあの映画、とても面白いと思ったよ。Ano eiga, totemo omoshiroi to omotta yo.I thought that movie was very interesting.
- 結衣 Yui私も！ストーリーが意外だったね。Watashi mo! Sutōrī ga igai datta ne.Me too! The story was unexpected, wasn't it?
- 蓮 Ren結衣はどのシーンが一番好き？Yui wa dono shīn ga ichiban suki?Yui, which scene did you like the most?
- 結衣 Yui最後の方はとても面白い展開だったな。Saigo no hō wa totemo omoshiroi tenkai datta na.The end had a very interesting development.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
