The Pursuit of Happiness: Turning Adjectives into Nouns by Using さ :Hey there, all of you future Japanese masters! Today, we have a special lesson for you. We’re going to begin taking those short basic sentence patterns you’ve learned and expanding them into longer, more in-depth sentences! One way of doing this is learning how to turn i-adjectives into nouns and making them the subject of the sentence (e.g. talking about the deliciousness or greatness of something). So, without further ado, let’s move on to today’s lesson!
Contents
Noun/Adjective Review
Before we begin, let’s talk a little bit about nouns and adjectives. As you know, a noun is a person, place, thing, or idea. For example, 少年 (shounen, boy), 店 (mise, shop), 鉛筆 (enpitsu, pencil), 愛 (ai, love), etc. Nouns often serve as the subject of a sentence.
Adjectives are words that describe nouns. I–adjectives in Japanese refer to the adjectives that end in the hiragana character い (i)—as opposed to na–adjectives, which end in な (na). Let’s review some simple i–adjectives to refresh your memory.
| Japanese | Romaji | English |
| いい | ii | good |
| 悪い | warui | bad |
| 新しい | atarashii | new |
| 古い | furui | old |
| 面白い | omoshiroi | interesting/entertaining |
| つまらない | tsumaranai | boring |
| 可愛い | kawaii | cute/pretty |
| かっこいい | kakkoii | cool/handsome |
Now that we’ve reviewed some i-adjectives, let’s construct some simple sentences!
アンナはいい人ですね。
Anna wa ii hito desu ne.
Anna is a good person.
あの店は接客が悪いです。
Ano mise wa sekkyaku ga warui desu.
That shop has bad customer service.
私は新しい車を買いました。
Watashi wa atarashii kuruma wo kaimashita.
I bought a new car.
彼は古いギターを売りました。
Kare wa furui gitaa wo urimashita.
He sold his old guitar.
彼女は面白いテレビ番組を見ています。
Kanojo wa omoshiroi terebi bangumi wo mite imasu.
She is watching a funny TV show.
金魚はつまらないペットです。
Kingyo wa tsumaranai petto desu.
Goldfish are boring pets.
日本のファッションは可愛いと思います。
Nihon no fasshon wa kawaii to omoimasu.
I think Japanese fashion is cute.
あの男優はかっこいいですね！
Ano danyuu wa kakkoii desu ne!
That actor is really hot!
Turning I-Adjectives into Nouns
When we want to describe “how new,” “how attractice,” “how cute,” etc. something is, we have the option to turn the adjective into a noun. In order to do this, we take the i–adjective and remove the い (i) at the end and replace it with the suffix さ (sa). This is similar to adding “-ness” to the end of an adjective in English (e.g. “happiness” or “sadness”). Let’s look at a few examples below by taking the same i-adjectives from above and turning them into nouns!
[NOTICE: The word ii is a special case. It cannot be turned into a noun without first being changed into its dictionary form 良い (yoi). The same goes for kakkoii because the word is a combination of the two words 格好 (kakkou, appearance) and いい (ii).]
| Japanese | Romaji | English |
| good ➝ goodness | ||
| 悪 | waru | bad ➝ badness |
| 新し | atarashi | new ➝ newness |
| 古 | furu | old ➝ oldness |
| 面白 | omoshiro | interesting ➝ interestingness |
| つまらな | tsumarana | boring ➝ boringness |
| 可愛 | kawai | cute ➝ cuteness |
| かっこ | kakko | handsome ➝ handsomeness |
Now that we have learned how to turn i-adjectives into nouns, let’s put them into sentences to see how they work!
あなたはこの車を運転したら、良さがよくわかりますよ。
Anata wa kono kuruma wo unten shitara, yosa ga yoku wakarimasu yo.
If you drive this car, you will see how good it is.
(Lit: “If you drive this car, you will understand its goodness.”)
私はあのレストランの悪さが信じられません。
Watashi wa ano resutoran no warusa ga shinjiraremasen.
I can’t believe how bad that restaurant is.
高橋さんには買い物をしたら物の新しさが気にしていません。
Takahashi-san ni wa kaimono wo shitara mono no atarashisa ga ki ni shite imasen.
Mr. Takahashi doesn’t care how new things are when shopping.
あの建物の古さはダメですね。
Ano tatemono no furusa wa dame desu ne.
The age (oldness) of that building is unacceptable.
観客は映画の面白さが大好きでした。
Kankyaku wa eiga no omoshirosa ga dai-suki deshita.
The audience loved how funny the movie was.
一日中何もしないつまらなさは嫌いです。
Ichinichijuu nani mo shinai tsumaranasa wa kirai desu.
I hate how boring it is not doing anything all day.
日本人はあのアイドルの可愛さによく憧れています。
Nihonjin wa ano aidoru no kawaisa ni yoku akogarete imasu.
Japanese people really admire how cute that idol is.
女性はジャニーズメンバーのかっこよさが世界一だと思っています。
Josei wa Janiizu menbaa no kakkoyosa ga sekaiichi da to omotte imasu.
Girls think that Johnny’s (male idol group) members are the most attractive in the world.
(Lit: “Girls think that the attractiveness of Johnny’s members is the best in the world.”)
In summary, i–adjectives can be turned into nouns simply by removing the い (i) at the end of the word and replacing it with さ (sa). Knowing how to turn i-adjectives into nouns is yet another stepping stone in the path to expanding your sentences and mastering the ins and outs of Japanese.
Now that you’ve learned how to turn i-adjectives into nouns, it’s time to get out there and practice! Remember, learning something new is meaningless if you don’t get out there and practice what you’ve learned. So, get out there already and practice, practice, practice!
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