adjective / adverb HSK 3
quite a few · quite a lot · many · not few
Meaning
不少 literally means 'not few' but is used to express 'quite a lot' or 'a considerable amount.' It's a common way to indicate a significant quantity without being too specific. The word emphasizes that something is more than expected or more than just a little.
Usage
不少 is frequently used in spoken and written Mandarin to describe quantities that are substantial but not overwhelming. It's more casual than formal counting expressions and often appears before nouns or at the end of sentences as a predicate. Common in statements about time, money, people, or experiences.
Examples
- 01这次旅行我花了不少钱。.I spent quite a lot of money on this trip.
- 02今天来了不少人参加会议。.Quite a few people came to attend the meeting today.
Characters
Common collocations
- 不少人quite a few people
- 不少钱quite a lot of money
- 花了不少时间spent quite a lot of time
- 学到不少learned quite a lot
Antonyms
Origin
Composed of negation 不 plus 少 (few), creating a litotes—a figure of speech where an affirmative is expressed by negating its opposite.