Using よく with negative verbs


Would the sentence 牛肉は **よく** 食べません。/ I don't eat beef often. be:

  1. grammatically incorrect because よく is used only in affirmative sentences?
  2. grammatically correct, but unnatural (Using あまり would be preferable)?
  3. perfectly acceptable?

Online searches led me to one site that used よく with a negative verb; others
said that the use is unnatural; and most used it only with affirmative verbs,
without comment on its use in this context.




I would say 2. Practically よく (in the sense of _often_ ) appears mostly in
non-negative sentences, but strictly speaking, I don't think there is any word
whose use in negative/affirmative sentences lead to ungrammaticality.

  * 牛肉あまり食べません

is natural for simply _not often_. Another possibility is

  * 牛肉をよく **は** 食べません

which sounds denying _to eat beef often_ (It is not the case that I eat beef
often).

* * *

よく in another sense can appear in negative sentences.

  * よく飽きないな How come you don't get bored?

See [this
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/93955/meaning-
of-%E3%82%88%E3%81%8F%E4%BD%8F%E3%82%81%E3%82%8B) for this usage.

* * *

In the western dialect (kansai-ben), there is a pattern よう+V+ん＝cannot V. E.g.,
ようせん=can't do, よう言わん=can't say. ([source](https://kansai-
ben.com/2018/04/09/%E3%82%88%E3%81%8F%E4%BD%BF%E3%81%86%E9%96%A2%E8%A5%BF%E5%BC%81%E4%B8%80%E8%A6%A7/));
よう is a version of よく.




I would say 2. Practically よく (in the sense of _often_ ) appears mostly in
non-negative sentences, but strictly speaking, I don't think there is any word
whose use in negative/affirmative sentences lead to ungrammaticality.

  * 牛肉あまり食べません

is natural for simply _not often_. Another possibility is

  * 牛肉をよく **は** 食べません

which sounds denying _to eat beef often_ (It is not the case that I eat beef
often).

* * *

よく in another sense can appear in negative sentences.

  * よく飽きないな How come you don't get bored?

See [this
question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/93955/meaning-
of-%E3%82%88%E3%81%8F%E4%BD%8F%E3%82%81%E3%82%8B) for this usage.

* * *

In the western dialect (kansai-ben), there is a pattern よう+V+ん＝cannot V. E.g.,
ようせん=can't do, よう言わん=can't say. ([source](https://kansai-
ben.com/2018/04/09/%E3%82%88%E3%81%8F%E4%BD%BF%E3%81%86%E9%96%A2%E8%A5%BF%E5%BC%81%E4%B8%80%E8%A6%A7/));
よう is a version of よく.

