In Japanese classes, I was taught that 全然 can only be used with negative-meaning words/phrases/clauses, for example:
全然出来ません
全然だめです
However, I've observed that, especially in spoken Japanese, some positive na-adjectives are allowed to follow 全然 adverb, for example:
全然平気です
全然大丈夫です
Or even:
全然OKです
Are there any reasons why these na-adjectives do not have to follow the 全然+negative rule? Given any other na-adjective with positive meaning, how to decide whether or not I can use it with the 全然 adverb? (e.g. 全然きれい)
p/s: I am fully aware that we have to look at the full sentence to determine whether the word/phrase/clause that follows 全然 is positive or negative, for example: {大丈夫じゃない} has negative meaning so {全然大丈夫じゃない} is OK. But I hear {全然大丈夫です} a lot in anime/drama, hence this question.
Answer
Like YOU mentioned, Zenzen being used with positive words is slang and not correct Japanese. That being said, Japanese people use it all the time, especially young people.
Typically I hear 全然 with OK、大丈夫、平気, 楽しい、and きれい with others possibly I haven't heard. That is to say that the words that are used with 全然 in a positive sense are probably limited to just a few words, but because language is living, this list will probably change.
Total off shoot, these words listed above seem like words a ギャール uses all the time and can't get that image out of my mind.
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