#91 今村夏子『むらさきのスカートの女』
わたしは最初、むらさきのスカートの女のことを若い女の子だと思っていた。小柄な体型と肩まで垂れ下がった黒髪のせいかもしれない。遠くからだと中学生くらいに見えなくもない。でも、近くでよく見てみると、決して若くはないことがわかる。
Vocabulary:
今村夏子 いまむらなつこ Imamura Natsuko (author, 1980-)
小柄 こがら small build/stature, petite
体型 たいけい figure, build, physique
垂れ下がる たれさがる to hang down
黒髪 くろかみ black hair
Grammar:
決して…ない
This pattern is used often. It means “certainly not”, “not by any means” or “not in the least”. 決して is always used in combination with a negative, so when you’re reading a text and you encounter 決して, look for the negative verb.
Translation:
At first I thought the woman in the purple skirt was a young girl. Perhaps it was because of her small build and her black hair that hung down to her shoulders. From afar, she looked like she could be a middle schooler. But, when you took a closer look, you could tell that she wasn’t young by any means.
Amazon.jp link for the book I used:
What is the difference between 〜くない, くもない, and くはない? Never could figure this out...