Help understanding the uses of 「とても」in this sentence


This is an isolated example sentence from my kanji practice workbook:

> 土地の値段が高くて、とても家など買えない。

I _think_ the gist of this sentence is: "The price of land is high, and I can
barely afford to buy a house, etc."

I know that, if the sentence wanted to say "many houses," they would use
「たくさん」, so I am making the assumption that 「とても」goes along with 「買えない」, and
thus has the meaning of "barely" or "hardly", but I'm not confident that
that's actually what is happening. I'm also wondering why 「あまり」wouldn't be
used, given the negative verb conjugation?

If anyone knows a specific rule, I'd appreciate your insight!




The second definition of とても on
[jisho.org](http://jisho.org/search/%E3%81%A8%E3%81%A6%E3%82%82) has the
following definition (when combined with a negative form):

> (not) at all; by no means; simply (cannot)

So you are correct in saying that it goes along with 買えない. とても heavily
emphasizes the negative part of it.

> 土地の値段が高くて、とても家など買えない。  
>  The price of land is so high, there's no way I can buy a house or anything!




The second definition of とても on
[jisho.org](http://jisho.org/search/%E3%81%A8%E3%81%A6%E3%82%82) has the
following definition (when combined with a negative form):

> (not) at all; by no means; simply (cannot)

So you are correct in saying that it goes along with 買えない. とても heavily
emphasizes the negative part of it.

> 土地の値段が高くて、とても家など買えない。  
>  The price of land is so high, there's no way I can buy a house or anything!

