12/25/13

Quick-How-To Japanese Adjective Conjugation

This is a companion page to the Quick-How-To for Japanese verb conjugation. This is a compilation of information from many places. Hope it helps.... good luck

Japanese Adjective Conjugation

Go here for the Quick Japanese Verb how-to There are two types of adjectives in Japanese: i-adjectives and na-adjectives . I-adjectives all end in ~ i , although they never end in ~ ei (for example, kirei is not an i-adjective.) Although Japanese adjectives have functions to modify nouns like English adjectives, they also function as verbs when used as predicates. When i-adjectives are used as predicates, they may be followed by ~ desu to indicate a formal style. Here are lists of common i-adjectives and na-adjectives.

Common I-Adjectives
akarui bright nagai oishii omai ooi atatakai atsui warm hot osoi ookii long delicious

akai
atarashii

red
new

sweet many
late, slow big

omoi
chikai chiisai furui hayai hikui near small old early, quick low omoshiroi

heavy
interesting, funny

samui semai shinsetsu shirui sukanai suzushii

tooi takai tsumaranai

cold small (area) kind white few cool

far tall, expensive boring
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hiroi
ii isogashii

spacious
good busy

kibishi kitanai
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strict dirty

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Quick-How-To Japanese Adjective Conjugation

tsuyoi karui kumori

kurai mijikai mazui

strong boring
bad young noisy

light cloudy
dark short bad tasting

umaranai
warui wakai urusai

utsui
yasashii yasui

thin
easy cheap

mushiatsui humid
muzukashii difficult

yowai

weak

Common Na-Adjectives
adayakana
anzenna benrina

calm
safe convenient kikenna kiraina kireina nigiyakana dangerous distasteful pretty lively kind

chisaina daikiraina daitsukina

fubenna genkina gankona hadena

small hated most favorite

inconvenient healthy, well stubborn showy

shinsetsuna

shinkenna
shizukana shoujikina

serious
quiet honest

sumaatona
sukina

slender
favorite

himana henna
ijiwaruna jouzuna

free (time) strange

mean skillful

taihenna taimenna
teineina yuumeina

awful lazy
polite famous

Modifying Nouns
When used as modifiers of nouns, both i-adjectives and na-adjectives take the basic form, and precede nouns just like in English.
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Quick-How-To Japanese Adjective Conjugation

I-Adjectives Na-Adjectives

chiisai inu takai tokei yuumeina gaka sukina eiga

small dog expensive watch famous painter favorite movie

I-Adjectives as Predicates
Adjectives can function like verbs and conjugate just like verbs. Present Negative Informal Past Past Negative Replace the final ~ i with ~ ku nai Replace the final ~ i with ~ katta Replace the final ~ i with ~ ku nakatta

Add ~desu to all of the informal forms. Formal There is also a variation in the formal negative forms. * Negative: Replace ~i with ~ku arimasen * Past Negative: Add ~ deshita to ~ku arimasen These negative forms are considered slightly more polite than others.

Example- conjugation of takai

Informal Present Present Negative Past Past Negative takai takaku nai takakatta takaku nakatta Formal takai desu takaku nai desu takaku arimasen takakatta desu takaku nakatta desu takaku arimasen deshita

Exception
The adjactive "ii" (means good) is only one exception to the rule of i-adjectives. It derives from yoi, so its conjugation is mostly based on that of yoi. Informal Present Present Negative Past
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Formal ii desu yoku nai desu yoku arimasen yokatta desu yoku nakatta desu
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ii yoku nai yokatta

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Quick-How-To Japanese Adjective Conjugation

Past negative

yoku nakatta

yoku arimasen deshita

Na-Adjectives as Predicates
These are called na-adjectives because ~na marks this group of adjectives when they directly modify nouns (e.g. yuumeina gaka). Unlike the i-adjectives, na-adjectives cannot be used as predicates without alteration; when a na-adjective is used as a predicate, the final ~na is deleted and replaced by ~ da (or ~ desu for formal speech). Just as with nouns, ~ da or ~ desu change form to express the past tense, the negative, and the affirmative. Informal Present Present Negative Past Past negative yuumei da yuumei dewa nai yuumei datta yuumei dewa nakatta Formal yuumei desu yuumei dewa arimasen yuumei deshita yuumei dewa arimasen deshita

General Rules
i-Adjectives
Non-Past Plain (dict) root + i root + < na i root+ < arimasen TE= root +< de Polite root + i + de tsu root + < na i de tsu - root + < na i kata + Plain root + haata Past Polite root + haata detsu root + < arimasendeshita

na-Adjectives
Non-Past Plain (dict) dict + da Polite dict + de tsu root + de ariimasen dict + de wa na ii root + ja arimasen + Plain dict + daa ta dict + de wa naikaata dict + janai kaata Past Polite dict + de shita dict + dewa arimasendeshita dict + ja arimasende shita
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Quick-How-To Japanese Adjective Conjugation

TE= root + de

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