Adjectives


In Japanese an adjective which modifies a noun is put before the noun.
There are two types of Japanese adjectives, I-adjectives and Na-adjectives. Japanese adjective have tense, while English does not have it. When modifying a noun, those adjectives ending with [i] are called I-adjective and those with [na] are Na-adjectives.

 

 I-Adjective   Non past   Negative Non past   Past   Negative Past
  Plain   ureshii   ureshiku nai   ureshi katta   ureshiku nakatta
  Polite   ureshii desu   ureshiku nai desu   ureshi katta desu   ureshi ku nakatta desu



 

 

 Na-Adjective  Non past  Negative Non past  Past  Negative Past
 Plain  sawayaka da  sawayaka ja/dewa nai  sawayaka datta  sawayaka ja/dewa nakatta
 Polite  sawayaka desu  sawayaka ja arimasen  sawayaka deshita  sawayaka ja arimasen deshita

 

 

 

I-adjective


Plain

The plain form of an I-adjective is identical to the dictionary form. It means when an adjective is used as a non-past affirmative predicate, I-adjectives remain unchanged. The "desu" is added to the plain form to construct the polite form.

Plain samui
Polite samui desu.

Ishi wa omoi.
(A stone is heavy.)

Kare wa tanoshii desu.
(He is a funny guy.)

Fujisan wa takai desu.
(Mt Fuji is high.)


Negative

To make the plain or polite negative non-past, the vowel ("i") of the plain non past is changed to "ku" and then "nai" or "arimasen" is added.

Plain Samui
Polite samuku nai, samuku arimasen
Irregular ii, yoku nai, yoku arimasen

Aoi pen wa motte imasen.
(I do not have a blue pen.)

Kyou wa atsuku nai desu ne.
(Today is not so hot.)

Kibun ga yoku arimasen.
(I am in bad mood.)


Past

To make the plain or polite past of the I-adjective, the last vowel ("i") of the plain non-past is changed to "katta" or "katta desu".

Plain samui
Polite samu katta, samu katta desu
Irregular ii, yokatta, yokatta desu

Kinou wa atsukatta desu.
(It was hot yesterday.)

Kyonen wa ureshikatta.
(I was happy last year.)

Ano jyugyou wa totemo yokatta desu.
(That class was very nice.)


Negative Past

To make the plain or polite negative past of the I-adjective, the "nai" in the plain negative non-past is changed to "nakatta" or "arimasen deshita".

Plain samui, samuku nai
Polite samuku nakatta, samuku nakatta desu

Kare wa se ga takaku nakatta desu.
(He was not so tall.)

Kyonen wa atsuku nakatta.
(It was not hot last year.)

Tesuto wa yoku nakatta desu.
(A test was not so good.)


Adjective Usage

The plain non-past of an I-adjective can modify a noun directly.

Kinou ookii mikan wo kai mashita.
(Yesterday, I bought a big orange.)

Takai megane wo motte imasu ne.
(You have an expensive glass.)

Atarashii hon wa dou desu ka?
(Do you like a new book?)


Modify Verbs

When an I-adjective modifies a verb, the last "i" of its plain non-past is replaced by "ku".

Samui, samuku

Gohan no ryou wo sukunaku shite kudasai.
(Please reduce the amount of food.)

Nedan wo sukoshi takaku shimasu.
(I will raise the price a little.)

Fukaku iki wo sutte kudasai.
(Please breath deeply.)





Na-adjective


Plain

The "da" or "desu" is added to the stem to construct the plain and polite form respectively.

Plain kirei da
Polite kirei desu

Kono kurasu wa taikutsu da.
(This class is boring.)

Kare wa shinsetsu da.
(He is a kind.)

Kanojyo no seikaku wa odayaka desu.
(Her character is calm.)


Negative

To make the plain or polite negative non-past of the Na-adjective , the "da" in the non-past form is changed to "ja/dewa nai" or "ja/dewa arimasen".

Plain Kirei desu
Polite kirei ja/dewa nai, kirei ja/dewa arimasen

Kono heya wa kirei dewa nai.
(This room is not beautiful.)

Ano hito wa kirai ja nai.
(I do not hate that man.)

Kono tori wa odayaka ja arimasen.
(This bird is not calm.)


Past

To make the plain or polite past of the Na-adjective, the "da" is changed to "datta" or "deshita".

Plain Kireida
Polite kirei datta, kirei deshita


Ano hito wa mukashi yu-mei datta.
(That man was famous for a long time ago.)

Kanojo wa shizuka deshita.
(She was quiet .)

Kare wa utaga jyozu datta.
(He sang very well.)


Negative Past

To make the plain or polite negative past of the Na-adjective, the "nai" in the plain negative non past is changed to "nakatta" or "arimasen deshita".

Plain Kirei, kirei ja nai
Polite Kirei ja nakatta, kirei ja arimasen deshita

Mukashi wa hima ja arimasen deshita.
(I was not free a long time ago.)

Souko wa kirei ja nakatta.
(A warehouse was not so clean.)

Tesuto wa kantan dewa arimasen deshita.
(A test was not so easy.)


Adjective Usage

When a Na-adjective modifies a noun, the last "da" of its plain non-past is replaced by "na".

Kireida, Kireina

Kantanna tesuto ni shite kudasai.
(Please make the test easy one.)

Shizukana tokoro ni hikkoshi masu.
(I will move to a quiet place.)

Ashita daijina kaigi ga arimasu.
(I will have an important meeting tomorrow.)


Modify verbs

When a Na-adjective modifies a verb, the last "da" of its plain non-past is replaced by "ni".

Kirei da, kirei ni

Kono kuruma ga Suki ni nari mashita.
(I became to like this car.)

Kanojo wa shinsetsu ni shite kure mashita.
(She was kind to me.)

E ga jouzu ni kake mashita.
(I could draw a picture very well.)


 

TE - FORM


The te-form of an adjective connects to another adjective or predicate. The meaning of the [te-form] varies depending on the context, but usually it is equivalent to "and" in English. The te-form itself is tenseless, and the tense of the statement is determined by the main verb or predicate of the sentence.

 

I-adjective

To make a te-form of an I-adjective, the last vowel ("i") of its plain non-past is replaced by "kute".

Samui, samukute

Daiamondo wa takakute kae masen.
(Diamond is too expensive to buy.)

Ano mise wa oishikute yasui desu.
(That restaurant serves cheap and delicious food.)

Koko wa atsukute shikke ga takai.
(This place is hot and humid.)

 

Na-adjective

To make the te-form of a Na-adjective, the "da" of its plain non-past is replaced by "de".

Kirei da, Kirei de

Kare wa majimede yoi seinen da.
(He is a serious man and nice.)

Kanojo wa goukade utsukushii.
(She is gorgeous and beautiful.)

Kare wa yu-meide kanemochi da.
(He is famous and rich man.)