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Grammar detail: い adjectives
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い adjectives
In Japanese, adjectives directly modify nouns, or describe a noun. There are two types of adjectives: い adjectives and な adjectives. Here, we explain い adjectives.
い adjectives - end in い, making them easily identifiable.
You can put an い-adjective before a noun:
| おおきい いえ | a big house |
| たのしい ゲーム | a fun game |
Or you can use it at the end of a sentence:
| この いえ は おおきい です。 | This house is big. |
| ゲーム は たのしい です。 | The game is fun. /Games are fun. |
Note: When used in a sentence です will typically follow the い adjective. This makes the sentence polite. While です can follow い adjectives, だ must never be placed after い adjectives.
い Adjective forms - negative; past; past negative
い adjectives can be conjugated to express not, and was / was not by removing the い and replacing it with くない (not), かった (was), or くなかった (was not). Let's look at how to conjugate two い adjectives: あかい (red) and さむい (cold).
| い adjective | くない - not | かった - was | くなかった - was not |
| あかい - red | あかくない - not red | あかかった - was red | あかくなかった - was not red |
| さむい - cold | さむくない - not cold | さむかった - was cold | さむくなかった - was not cold |
Sentences using different い adjectives and different forms
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お父さん は 青い カバン が ほしい です 。
Listen
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| お父さん | は | 青い | カバン | が | ほしい | です | 。 |
| おとうさん | は | あおい | カバン | が | ほしい | です | 。 |
| Dad | (topic marker) | blue | bag | (subject marker) | wants | . | |
| Dad wants a blue bag. | |||||||
|
もっと 安い 部屋 は あります か 。
Listen
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| もっと | 安い | 部屋 | は | あります | か | 。 |
| もっと | やすい | へや | は | あります | か | 。 |
| more | cheap | room | (topic marker) | have | (question marker) | . |
| Do you have anything cheaper? | ||||||
|
今日 は 暑い です 。
Listen
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| 今日 | は | 暑い | です | 。 |
| きょう | は | あつい | です | 。 |
| today | (topic marker) | hot | is | . |
| It's hot today. | ||||
|
それ は 高くない 。
Listen
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| それ | は | 高くない | 。 |
| それ | は | たかくない | 。 |
| It | (topic marker) | isn't expensive | . |
| It isn't expensive. | |||
|
テスト が 難しかった 。
Listen
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| テスト | が | 難しかった | 。 |
| テスト | が | むずかしかった | 。 |
| The test | (subject marker) | was hard | . |
| The test was hard. | |||
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昨日 は あまり 寒くなかった 。
Listen
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| 昨日 | は | あまり | 寒くなかった | 。 |
| きのう | は | あまり | さむくなかった | 。 |
| Yesterday | (topic marker) | not very | was not cold | . |
| It was not very cold yesterday. | ||||
い adjective exception - いい
いい is a little different from other い adjectives, for historical linguistic reasons - originally it was よい, and that form is still how it is read when written with its kanji (良い). As a result いい is conjugated as follows:
| いい | good |
| よくない | not good |
| よかった | was good |
| よくなかった | was not good |
な Adjectives that look like い adjectives
Some な adjectives end in い - so although they look like い adjectives, they behave like な adjectives. These exceptions are easy to spot when they are written in kanji, but some common ones often appear in hiragana and just have to be memorized, such as:
- きれい attractive
- ゆうめい有名famous
- きら嫌い dislike/hate
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