nihonbg3

Basic Grammer: LESSON 3

Adjectives
(Keiyoushi)

One of the most important keys to fluency is the ability to describe what your talking about in detail, to be able to distinguish objects from eachother. To avoid being as vague as I usually am, muahahaha! I mean--- as you might have already guessed, this means using adjectives (well).

   The Japanese have two kinds of adjectives- the 'i' adjectives, and the 'na' adjectives (also known as 'noun' adjectives or 'copula nouns'). Confused, that's a good sign, because I haven't explained myself yet. silly.
     Basically the 'i' adjectives add 'i' to the end of a word to make it an adjective, and the 'na' adjectives use the partical 'na' after the word. Note that there is no direct change to the 'na' adjective itself.

        eg-         big house.
                                    Ookii uchi.

                    quiet house.
                                    Shizuka na uchi.

      So, Ooki (big) is an 'i' adjective, meaning when using it we add 'i' to it, making it Ookii.
      And, Shizuka(quiet) is a 'na' adjective, meaning we add the 'na' to make it Shizuka na.
      Also, there are to ways to place an adjective. Before or after the noun. Note that when placed after the noun, the 'i' adjective still contains the 'i', but the 'na' adjective has no added 'na'.

                 eg-
                         Ookii uchi.
                                     big house.

                         Uchi wa ookii desu.
                               The house is big.

                         Shizuka na Uchi.
                                      quiet house.

                         Uchi wa shizuka desu.
                                 The house is quiet.

Some 'i' adjectives:
            Ao(i) = blue
            Aka(i) = red
           Shiro(i) = white
            Kuro(i) = black
            Chiisa(i) = small
            Ooki(i) = Big
            Yasashi(i) = Easy
            Muzukashi(i) = Hard
           Naga(i) = long
           Mijika(i) = short

Some 'na' adjectives:
             Shizuka = quiet
            Benri = convenient
             Kasuka = dim, faint
             Kouhei = fair (just, impartial)
             Yuumei = Famous
             Kantan = simple

Adjectives, like verbs, go through a glorious process known as conjugation. Like verbs, they have a past and present tense, and a positive and negative tense...

'i' and 'na' adjectives are treated quite differently when conjugated.

When 'i' adjectives are put into negative tense, you take off the '-i' and add '-ku arimasen'.

For example:

                  Kono hon wa chiisai desu.
                          This book is small.

                 Kono hon wa chiisaku arimasen.
                          This book is not small.

'Na' adjectives are treated a little differently. As before no change is made to the word itself, but the 'na' is taken off.

For Example:

                Inochi wa kousei desu.
                            Life is fair.

                Inochi wa kousei dewa arimasen. FuFuFu.
                            Life isn't fair. Muahaha.

           YES! THAT'S RIGHT~! NOUN ADJECTIVES ARE TREATED LIKE NOUNS... EAT THAT! MUAHAHAHA..... I mean. yeah. that's how you do it.

That's it for now, You'll find more on adjectives in the up and coming next lesson. Yes, it does exist. In my head.

Until then, enjoy my Adjective List, and Homework. That's right! renshuu shite! renshuu shite! renshuu shite! (practice, practice, practice!) Try saying that aloud quickly.
Come on, I dare you.

Nu Nu's big list of random adjectives-

'i'

Muzugayu(i) - itchy
kawai(i) - cute
sugo(i) - awesome
tanoshi(i) - fun
ikameshi(i) - stern/solemn
fuka(i) - deep
mazu(i) - bad tasting
ama(i) - sweet tasting
oishi(i) - delicious
ureshi(i) - happy
furu(i) - old
suppa(i) - sour
kiiro(i) - yellow
taka(i) - high/tall
hoso(i) - slender/thin
isogashi(i) - busy
utsukushi(i) - beautiful
subarashi(i) - wonderful
samu(i) - cold
atsu(i) - hot

'na'

sensakuzuki - prying
aironikku - ironic
fugori - irrational
tokubetsu - special
kirei - pretty
ijou - abnormal/bizarre
kakume-teki - revolutionary
kenmei - wise
taira - flat/level
onken - moderate
reisei - calm/composed
seikaku - accurate/exact
eizoku-teki - lasting/enduring
kyasha - fragile/slender/delicate
oshare - fashion conscious
shoujiki - honest
harenchi - shameless/immoral
koukatsu - cunning/sneaky
kokumei - detailed/minute
kokusai-teki - international

Ok, so now it's time to test your ability to handle adjectives! As always, mail your answers to me for a quick response: [email protected]

Part I: Translations-

1.) Nihongo wa yasashii desu ka?
________________________________

2.) Iie, yasashiku arimasen.
_________________________________

3.) Honto ni yasashii desu.
_________________________________

4.) Kyou wa honto ni samui desu ne...
_________________________________

Homework's Vocabulary (Shukudai no tango)

Yasashii: Easy
Samui: cold
Muzukashii: difficult
Amai: sweet
Benri: convenient
Akai: red
Karuma: car
Yuumei: famous

Nihongo: Japanese
Iie: No.
Honto ni: really/truly
Ne: isn't it?
Kyou: Today
Rekishi: History
Sensei: Teacher
Kono: This
Tabemono: food
Sono: That
Hon: book

Part II: Conjugations of 'i' adjectives:
(Turn these into negative sentences)

1.) Watashi no rekishi no sensei wa muzukashii desu. (My history teacher is difficult.)
     __________________________________________________________________

2.) Kono tabemono wa amai desu. (This food is sweet.)
     __________________________________________

3.) Sono hon wa akai desu. (That book is red.)
     ___________________________________

Part III: Practice with 'na' adjectives.
(Turn these into negative sentances.)

1.) Karuma wa benri desu. (Cars are convenient.)
     _____________________________________

2.) Watashi wa yuumei desu. (I am famous.)
     __________________________________

3.) Anata wa yuumei desu. (You're famous.)
     __________________________________

Get it?
back to Japanese lesson 1
or
Japanese lesson 2

Other wise, what you want is Lesson 4!

Home or Back to Japanese

Everything on this page is written by me, yes, ME. it is therefore copyright(c) to Lynneigh McPherson, 2001. All rights reserved...blablabla so please be considerate. I actually worked on writing this...

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