ちょっと = I don’t really like???

16 comments

1. It’s basically an indirect way of saying you don’t like something. ‘Blue shoes are a little…’ with the ‘undesirable’ or ‘unfavorable’ left unsaid. You see it used to decline plans a lot too. ‘Wanna go eat tomorrow?’ ‘Tomorrow is a little…’

2. I think it’s the same in English.

   “That’s a little…”

3. Duolingo is… not exactly the best tool to learn a language.

   ちょうと, as I understand it, could be taken in that context as “that’s a bit…”, like an awkward refusal.

   “For me, blue shoes are a bit… ” (dislikeable? Uncomfortable? Unreliable? idk)

4. Yeah exactly as the other commenters said. It’s leaving part of the sentence unsaid, to be a bit more … polite I guess?

   Like, it would be rude to directly say “I don’t like blue shoes” or “Blue shoes are a little ugly.” So you kind of soften the message by being “Well blue shoes are *kind of*…..” and then imagine you’re making a sort of scrunched up “not great” kind of facial expression haha.

5. It has about ten different meanings depending on inflection of the speaker, context, situation, etc.

6. It’s like a cultural thing. You can’t just simply equate these two phrases. But you can use ちょっと as a description of something to imply your rejection or disapproval in a polite way that won’t offend anybody, I think.

7. It’s a refusal without saying no. It’s supposed to be more polite like if you’ve ever been to the rural south of America or rural Canada they’ll often “politely” tell you to do something by asking “are you going to do x or….?” There’s no other option really but it’s less rude then just saying to do something

8. it is chotto. ちょっと no U う

   also in this sample, the tone matters. Much like Kekko 結構.

   If the voice is neutral it is neutral, high pitch/enthusiastic = positive, down pitched/ trailing out = negative and it is not actively said further to stay polite.

9. Speaking bluntly/directly → rude

   Speaking indirectly/implying your meaning → polite

    

   ちょっと is super commonly used to precede *negative* words, because it softens the negativity. Then, leaving the sentence unfinished invites your listener to “fill in the blank,” so the listener can fill it in with whatever word *they* deem most appropriate for the situation, AND you don’t have to actually say the negative word! That’s like, bonus politeness points for you.

   That being said, it’s an unfinished sentence, so I think ending with … would be a much better stylistic choice than just 。by itself.

10. Thanks everyone! It was really insightful! Also on the culture side, I’ve had heard that japanese people do not tend to be blunt

11. Consulting with Weblio, [we find this sense of “tyotto” listed](https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%A1%E3%82%87%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A8):

    > （多くあとに打消しの語を伴って用いる）簡単に判断することが不可能なさま、または、困難であるさま。「私には—お答えできません」「詳しいことは—わかりかねます」

    Translated, the definition is “(usually followed by negative word) in a state where refusal is impossible or is difficult.” The example sentences are “I can’t really answer” (私にはちょっとお答えできません) or “I can’t quite understand all the details” (詳しいことはちょっとわかりかねます). That’s the implied meaning here. “I don’t quite like them,” or something like that, but it’s allowed to trail off, which is a common thing in Japanese to do for things you’re judging might be a bit harsh to say.

12. As many have explained, indirectness is less rude.

    Even a Japanese (日本人) instructor or my wife’s was confused by the indirectness of a hotel clerk checking the instructor in once.

    「しつれですけど、お名前はなんと言いますか。」 “pardon me, but what is your name?”

    Was shortened to, 「しつれですけど…」

13. It’s just an indirect way to express something ( especially something negative) without having to explicitly state it in hopes that the person would read between the lines.

    It’s the same as saying something is difficult when refusing to do something.

14. it’s used in a ton of phrases for avoiding directness

    another one i don’t see mentioned in the comments is

    ちょっといいですか？

    direct translation is “a little good?” but it’s used as “do you have a moment?” all the time in all politeness contexts

15. The way the sentences are read sounds weird because they just say it in a normal way.

    It’s more of a sort of soft trailing off phrase not a regular sentence ending. You stretch out the chotto.

    It’s a polite way of saying you don’t like whatever without actually saying it directly.

    Like, if you go to a store and ask if they have X the clerk might ask if you wanted small medium or large X, or what color of X, and that means “we don’t have any”.

    Japanese is a high context language, so a lot of things that in English would be expliciitly stated tend to be implied and stated obliquely.

16. It’s accurate. The direct English equivalent is like this:

    Person A: Do you like my new hair?

    Person B: Uhhh…. it’s a little…