十分 is an adverb used just as 非常, but while 十分 can be negated (不十分), 非常 can't. (不非常 is unacceptable.)
That's the explanation given by my book, which also gives me these sentences as examples:
他不十分聪明。
他十分不满。
他不十分满 --> NO他不十分满意 --> OK
Why is this last sentence (他不十分满) wrong, if the book said I can negate 十分？And why do I need to say 满意 to use 不十分?
Thank you!
Good question.
不满 is a single word. It means unhappy or unsatisfied. It cannot be separated into 不 + 十分 + 满. It's like you can't say "un-very-happy".
不满意 is a phrase, 不 + 满意 = not satisfied. It can be modified by 十分: 不 ＋ 十分 + 满意。
他十分不满
He is very unsatisfied.
他不十分满
He is not very ...full?
The problem is the usage of 满.
不满=unsatisfied
满意=satisfied
But only 满 usually means full/completed/filled
so 他不十分满 is wrong, how could a man get filled? (perhaps beer?)
他不十分满意 is OK, meaning He is not very satisfied
According to my book New practical Chinese HSK5 what I understood. 十分不满 or 十分不满意=fully not satisfied Not satisfied at all In the other hand 不十分满意=not fully satisfied
it is kind of too formal or something, in daily life, people will not say things like "他不十分聪明", people will say "他不是很聪明"。"不满" is a word, short for "不满意", so you can say "他十分不满", again, in real life people will usually say "他很不满"。I don't think you need to nail the grammar down that precisely. Just get used to what people will usually say, forget about the book, its hard to remember all the rules.
You should not say '不非常‘ or '不十分‘。
Better: '不是非常。。。‘ or '不是十分。。。‘
'不十分' simply doesn't work. It's strange, it's weird, it's not native.
If you replace "不十分" with "不太", the whole sentence will be much better, we rarely use "不十分". Consider below sentences:
a) 他不十分滿意 b) 他不太滿意
Grammatically both are correct, but we usually say "B"
Sorry a bit off topic, here's the answer to your question:
Why 他不十分滿 is incorrect?
"不滿" is a feeling. It means not satisfied, but if you use "他不十分滿", the word "滿" will be another meaning, "滿"means full, the whole sentence's meaning will be: He's not very full (not very full here doesn't mean he's hungry). It doesn't make any sence.
Why 他不十分滿意 is correct?
"滿意" is a feeling, it means satisfied, so if you add "不十分"in the front, the meaning will be "he's not satisfied".
So to conclude, 滿意 and 滿 are two different words and have different meanings.
