Now we will be going deeper into adjectives in Japanese and looking at the more complex grammar rules that go with them.
Contents
Japanese Adjectives, adjectives..does whatever an adjective does
*spider man theme*
Back at it again with the adjectives! We will be mainly focusing on one category of Keiyoushi(adjectives). As you know, adjectives are words that describe nouns. They can talk about sound, smell, feeling, taste, looks… anything that can be felt by the senses and can be felt by feelings in general. They are usually found before or after the noun they are describing and should also never be confused with adverbs (adjectives don’t describe verbs). In our previous blog, we discussed one type of adjective called “na-keiyoushi” or na-adjectives.
Na-keiyoushi have the same conjugation rules as nouns. One of the main differences they have is how instead of は or が, we use な after this adjective, hence getting it’s name “na-keiyoushi”. We will be discussing other types of keiyoushi in our coming blogs so make sure to stay tuned!
Japanese Adjectives : i-keiyoushi
In the previous blog, we discussed how na-keiyoushi have the same conjugations as a noun except how it uses na instead of wa or ga. For i-keiyoushi, or ii adjectives, these are adjectives that always end in the hiragana character “い”. Do not get these confused with a few na-keiyoushi words that end in “i” (ei. Kirei, Yuumei, etc).
| English | Romaji | Japanese |
| Kind | Yasashii | やさしい |
| Expensive | Takai | たかい |
| New | Atarashii | あたらしい |
| Bad | Warui | わるい |
| Difficult | Muzukashii | むずかしい |
(Noun) wa/ga + (Ii adjective) desu.
きょうはてんきが わるいです。
Kyou wa tenki ga warui desu.
The weather today is bad.
(Noun) wa/ga + (Ii adjective) desu.
私のお母さんは優しい人です。
Watashi no okaasan wa yasashii hito desu.
My mother is a kind person.
The main conjugation rule for the negative form of i-keiyoushi is how you take the “i” away from the end of the word and then attach “くない” at the end. An example can be found below.
(Noun) wa/ga + (Ii adjective– i)kunai desu.
今日は電気が悪くないです。
Kyou wa tenki ga warukunai desu.
The weather today isn’t bad.
For the past tense conjugation, we again remove the “い” at the end of the word and simply add “かった” at the end instead. For the negative form of the past-tense, we simply add “くなかった”. An example can be found below.
(Noun) wa/ga + (Ii adjective – i)katta desu.
そのパソコンは高かったです。
Sono pasokon wa taka katta desu.
The computer was expensive
As mentioned in our previous blog, we will talk about the different forms and tenses of adjectives. We have the present tense which is the state of a word, in this case, an adjective, in the present or current time or something that is habitually performed (desu form) and past tense which talks about previous state, since we are talking about adjectives. We will also be giving examples of positive and negative forms of adjectives.
I-keiyoushi and na-keiyoushi are quite different in terms of their tenses and forms. I-keiyou is a bit more complicated compared to na-keiyoushi so make sure to read the examples below and practice in your spare time. Make sure you try and search for more vocabulary online as well and feel free to use this guide to practice making sentences.
ふるい (old) Furui
Positive
| English | Romaji | Japanese |
| That laptop is old. | Sono pasokon wa furui desu. | そのパソコンは古いです。 |
| That laptop was very old. | Sono pasokon wa totemo furu katta desu. | そのパソコンはとても古かったです |
| Very old laptop | Meccha furui pasokon desu | めっちゃ古いパソコンです |
Negative
| English | Romaji | Japanese |
| That laptop is not old. | Sono pasokon wa furu ku arimasen. | そのパソコンは古くありません。 |
| That laptop was not old. | Sono pasokon wa furu ku arimasen deshita. | そのパソコンは古くありませんでした。 |
おいしい (tasty/delicious) Oishii
Positive
| English | Romaji | Japanese |
| That pizza is delicious. | Sono piza wa oishii desu. | そのピザは美味しいです。 |
| That pizza was delicious. | Sono piza wa oishi katta desu. | そのピザは美味しかったです。 |
| Very delicious pizza | Meccha oishii piza desu | めっちゃ美味しいピザです。 |
Negative
| English | Romaji | Japanese |
| That pizza is not delicious. | Sono piza wa oishi ku arimasen. | そのピザは美味しくありません。 |
| That pizza was not delicious. | Sono piza wa oishi ku arimasen deshita. | そのピザは美味しくありませんでした。 |
臭い(stinky) Kusai
Positive casual
| English | Romaji | Japanese |
| My dog is stinky. | Watashi no inu wa kusai. | 私の犬は臭い。 |
| My dog was stinky. | Watashi no inu wa kusa katta. | 私の犬は臭かった。 |
| Stinky dog | Kusai inu | 臭い犬 |
Negative casual
| English | Romaji | Japanese |
| My dog is not stinky. | Watashi no inu wa kusa ku nai. | 私の犬は臭くない。 |
| My dog was not stinky. | Watashi no inu wa kusa ku na katta. | 私の犬は臭くなかった。 |
つまらない (boring) Tsumaranai
Positive casual
| English | Romaji | Japanese |
| That movie is boring. | Sono eiga wa tsumara nai. | その映画はつまらない。 |
| That movie was boring. | Sono eiga wa tsumara na katta. | その映画はつまらなかった。 |
| Boring movie | Tsumaranai eiga | つまらない映画 |
Negative casual
| English | Romaji | Japanese |
| That movie is not boring. | Sono eiga wa tsumara na ku nai. | その映画はつまらなくない。 |
| That movie was not boring. | Sono eiga wa tsumara na ku na katta. | その映画はつまらなくなかった。 |
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