めったに～ない
Something happens only rarely
You’ll be able to describe an action as rare using めったに with a negative predicate, while allowing that it does occasionally happen.
町の中では、野生の鹿を見ることはめったにありません。
machi no naka de wa, yasei no shika o miru koto wa mettani arimasen.
What do you think this sentence means?
In the city, we rarely ever see wild deer.
Describe something that happens very seldom
めったに modifies a negative predicate to show that an action or event occurs very infrequently ("rarely", "hardly ever", "seldom").
父はめったに怒らない。
chichi wa mettani okoranai.
My father rarely gets angry.
私はめったに映画館に行きません。
watashi wa mettani eigakan ni ikimasen.
I rarely go to the movie theater.
Place めったに before a negative verb
Place めったに directly or with the particle に before a negative verb form (ない-form). It emphasizes the extreme rarity of an occurrence.
この地域では、冬でも雪がめったに降らない。
kono chiiki de wa, fuyu demo yuki ga mettani furanai.
In this region, it rarely snows even in winter.
めったに～ない vs 全然～ない
めったに～ない leaves room for the rare exception: it does happen, just seldom. 全然～ない says it does not happen at all.
めったに～ない, rarely
彼はめったに遅刻しない。
kare wa mettani chikoku shinai.
He is rarely late.
He has been late once or twice.
全然～ない, never; not at all
彼は全然遅刻しない。
kare wa zenzen chikoku shinai.
He is never late.
Not even once.
東京に住む兄とは、めったに会えない。お正月に会うぐらいだ。
toukyou ni sumu ani to wa, mettani aenai. oshougatsu ni au gurai da.
I hardly ever get to see my brother, who lives in Tokyo. We only meet around New Year.
こんなにきれいな夕日はめったに見られないよ。写真を撮ろう。
konna ni kirei na yuuhi wa mettani mirarenai yo. shashin o torou.
You hardly ever get to see a sunset this beautiful. Let’s take a picture.
うちの猫はめったに鳴かないが、お腹が空くと大きな声を出す。
uchi no neko wa mettani nakanai ga, onaka ga suku to ookina koe o dasu.
Our cat rarely meows, but when it’s hungry it makes a loud noise.
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