Why is Harry the jealous one in the following paragraph, and why is 幸せな時間はなかった not a negation? This paragraph comes from the second _Harry Potter_ book. ![enter image description here]( I am not yet at a stage where I can read books comfortably, and I have trouble understanding this paragraph. The English original goes as follows: > The end of the summer vacation came too quickly for Harry’s liking. He was looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts, but his month at the Burrow had been the happiest of his life. It was difficult not to feel jealous of Ron when he thought of the Dursleys and the sort of welcome he could expect next time he turned up on Privet Drive. To my mind, in the Japanese translation Harry has _not_ had a pleasant time at the Weasleys. To that same mind it is also Ron that is jealous of Harry, and not the other way round. What am I getting wrong here?

First off, XY) is the typical way to say '[X] envies [Y]', because this is an adjective and not a verb - you can see this in other places too such as with , , and .

Second, you are not taking the whole clause into account with

> ****

> He [had] never had _such a happy time_ as his month at the Burrow.

You could add to the start to clear away ambiguity but it's far from necessary. is used for certain comparisons.