<p>Good question.</p>

<p>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".</p>

<p>不满意 is a phrase, 不 + 满意 = not satisfied. It can be modified by 十分: 不 ＋ 十分 + 满意。</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-04T08:16:53.520Z
2015-06-04T08:16:53.520Z
Danke Xie
<p>他十分不满<br>
He is very unsatisfied.<br>
他不十分满<br>
He is not very ...full?<br>
The problem is the usage of 满.<br>
不满=unsatisfied<br>
满意=satisfied<br>
But only 满 usually means full/completed/filled<br>
so 他不十分满 is wrong, how could a man get filled? (perhaps beer?)<br>
他不十分满意 is OK, meaning He is not very satisfied<br></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-05T02:08:32.947Z
My Chinese friend says, '他不十分满意' and '他不十分满 are not good Chinese. Should be 他不是十分满意。
Peter Pan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-04T14:37:08.060Z
2015-06-04T14:37:08.060Z
Doubble22
<p>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 </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-10T07:03:38.887Z
2019-06-10T07:03:38.887Z
Vasilikaki Dafni
<p>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.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-05T08:00:05.097Z
2015-06-05T08:00:05.097Z
Brutal Honest Philosophy
<p>'不十分' simply doesn't work. It's strange, it's weird, it's not native.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-04T15:08:16.947Z
maybe TW usage: http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/newDict/dict.sh?idx=dict.idx&cond=%A4%A3%A4Q%A4%C0&pieceLen=50&fld=1&cat=&imgFont=1  1.　不十分: 不完全﹑不澈底。如：「這事的來龍去脈，我不十分清楚。」
Mou某
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-08T11:33:08.993Z
Well, I agree. But it sounds strange to me. For the simplified Chinese, it usually would be "我不是十分清楚", rather than "我不十分清楚". It looks that "是" is redundant, but this is how it worked for me.
Madwyn
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-04T11:45:27.917Z
2015-06-04T11:45:27.917Z
Madwyn
<p>You should not say '不非常‘ or '不十分‘。 </p>

<p>Better: '不是非常。。。‘ or '不是十分。。。‘</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-04T10:49:41.563Z
2015-06-04T10:49:41.563Z
Peter Pan
<p>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:</p>

<p>a) 他不十分滿意
b) 他不太滿意</p>

<p>Grammatically both are correct, but we usually say "B"</p>

<p>Sorry a bit off topic, here's the answer to your question: </p>

<p>Why <code>他不十分滿</code> 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: <code>He's not very full</code> (not very full here doesn't mean he's hungry). It doesn't make any sence.</p>

<p>Why <code>他不十分滿意</code> 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".</p>

<p>So to conclude, <code>滿意</code> and <code>滿</code> are two different words and have different meanings.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-13T01:12:54.667Z
2015-06-13T01:12:54.667Z
User2012384
<p>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.)</p>
<p>That's the explanation given by my book, which also gives me these sentences as examples:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>他不十分聪明。</p>
<p>他十分不满。</p>
<p>他不十分满 --&gt; NO他不十分满意 --&gt; OK</p>
</blockquote>
<p>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?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-08T10:27:40.697Z
不满 actually is 不满（意），so 他不十分满意 is correct, but 他不十分满 isn't
Tom
<usage><adverbs><negation>
How does 十分/不十分 work？
# How does 十分/不十分 work？

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-06-04)

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!

**Tags:** usage, adverbs, negation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: 不满 actually is 不满（意），so 他不十分满意 is correct, but 他不十分满 isn't  

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## 7 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2015-06-04. Score: 4

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。


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### Answer by username_3 on 2015-06-04. Score: 2

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

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: My Chinese friend says, '他不十分满意' and '他不十分满 are not good Chinese. Should be 他不是十分满意。  

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### Answer by username_5 on 2019-06-10. Score: 2

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


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### Answer by username_6 on 2015-06-05. Score: 1

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.


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### Answer by username_7 on 2015-06-04. Score: 0

'不十分' simply doesn't work. It's strange, it's weird, it's not native.

> **Comments:**
> **username_8**: maybe TW usage: http://dict.revised.moe.edu.tw/cgi-bin/newDict/dict.sh?idx=dict.idx&cond=%A4%A3%A4Q%A4%C0&pieceLen=50&fld=1&cat=&imgFont=1  1.　不十分: 不完全﹑不澈底。如：「這事的來龍去脈，我不十分清楚。」  
> **username_7**: Well, I agree. But it sounds strange to me. For the simplified Chinese, it usually would be "我不是十分清楚", rather than "我不十分清楚". It looks that "是" is redundant, but this is how it worked for me.  

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### Answer by username_4 on 2015-06-04. Score: 0

You should not say '不非常‘ or '不十分‘。

Better: '不是非常。。。‘ or '不是十分。。。‘


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### Answer by username_9 on 2015-06-13. Score: 0

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.


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