JBP-1, Lesson 12, Japanese Adjectives Grammar Note

1. Lesson 12
Grammar Note

2. Japanese adjectives
Just like English adjectives, Japanese adjectives give information about the
noun or pronoun s definition, on the other hand, Japanese adjectives also
function as predicates to a sentence (giving a property to the subject) - where
the adjective takes the verb position of the sentence with です(desu) .
adjectivenoun は です。
noun adjective.
wa desu
スミスさんの うち は おおきいです。Ex.
Mr. Smith s house is big.
In the above example sentence, おおきい(ookii) means just not big but is big .
is
sumisu san no uchi wa ookii desu

3. adjective noun＋
They also function as noun modifiers - where the adjective is adjacent to the
noun.
Types of adjectives in Japanese
Ex. おおきい うち＋
ookii uchi
= a big house
However, there are two types of adjectives in Japanese :
i- adjective and na- djectives .
The and are their last syllables when they modify nouns.
i-adjectives na-adjectives
i na
Ex. : i-adj. おおきい うち = a big house
o o k i i uchi
Ex. : na-adj. しずかな こうえん = a quiet park
shizukana kouen

4. This first group is the i-adjectives, so called because they all end with an い i .
When an i-adjective is placed in front of a noun, it modifies the noun directly,
and when placed at the end of the sentence, its becomes a predicate with です.
i-adjectives
おおきい です
To change an i-adjective into it s negative form, replace the final い i with
くない ku nai as in the predicate, thus you can state as is not [i-adjective] .
As Predicate: Present Affirmative As Modifier
おおきいbig
ookii desu ookii
noun＋
あたらしい です あたらしく ないですnew
atarashii desu
→
As Predicate: Present Affirmative As Predicate: Present Negative
X
X atarashiku naidesu
スミスさんの うちは おおきいです。
sumisu san no uchi wa ookii desu
Ex.
Mr. Smith s house is big.
これは おおきい うちです。
kore wa ookii uchi desu
This is a big house.
Ex. スミスさんの うち は あたらしく ないです。
sumisu san no uchi wa atarashiku naidesu
Mr. Smith s house is not new.

5. na-adjectives
The second group, the na-adjectives, are followed by な na when used to
modify nouns, and by です when used to predicate a sentence. However, when
you don t have to modify nouns with them, you must remove な na just as
predicates to a sentence.
しずか です
To change an na-adjective into it s negative form, simply replace です desu
with ではありません dewa arimasen .
As Predicate: Present Affirmative As Modifier
しずかなquiet
shizuka desu shizukana
noun＋
しずか です しずか ではありませんquiet
shizuka desu
→
As Predicate: Present Affirmative As Predicate: Present Negative
shizuka dewa arimasen
この こうえんは しずかです。
kono kouen wa shizuka desu
Ex.
This park is quiet.
これは しずかな こうえんです。
kore wa shizukana kouen desu
This is a quiet park.
X
この こうえんは しずかなです。X※
※
この こうえんは しずかではありません。
kono kouen wa shizuka dewa arimasen
Ex.
This park is not quiet.
X

6. Additional Notes
The negative form of i-adjective いいです (iidesu) becomes よくないです (yoku
naidesu) because the original word for good in Japanese is よいです (yoi desu).
For some historical reason, its negative form follows the original word instead.
いい です よく ないですgood
ii desu
→
As Predicate: Present Affirmative As Predicate: Present Negative
X
X yoku naidesu
よい です
yoi desu
→
We also have negative forms with modifying nouns for both i and na adjective.
However, we do not discuss them in this lesson and we ll go over them later on
the textbook. Therefore, we make negative sentences by changing predicate
ending です (desu) into ではありません (dewa arimasen).
これは おおきい うちです。
kore wa ookii uchi desu
This is a big house.
これは しずかな こうえんです。
kore wa shizukana kouen desu
This is a quiet park.
Ex. これは おおきい うち ではありません。
kore wa ookii uchi dewa arimasen
This is not a big house.
これは しずかな こうえん ではありません。
kore wa shizukana kouen dewa arimasen
This is not a quiet park.

7. na-adjectives end with い i
There are few na-adjectives which end with い i just like i-adjective. For
example, ゆうめい (yuumei) that means famous ends with い i , but it s in the
group of na-adjective. Here s how to make a distinction between the groups :
famous ゆうめい です
As Predicate: Present Affirmative As Modifier
ゆうめいな
yuumei desu yuumeina
noun＋
You have to focus the last two vowels of an adjective
In the Japanese sound system, ei vowel combination becomes ええ ee in a
normal speech speed, not as written as えい ei . Therefore any adjectives end
with this ei combination are defined as na-adjectives.
pretty きれい です きれいな
kirei desu kireina
noun＋

8. Additional Adjectives
benri desu
べんりです
fuben desu
ふべんです
convenient inconvenient
urusai desu
うるさいです
shizuka desu
しずかです
noisy, loud quiet, serene
oishii desu
おいしいです
mazui desu
まずいです
delicious tasteless
kitanai desu
きたないです
kirei desu
きれいです
dirty clean, beautiful
takai desu
たかいです
hikui desu
ひくいです
high, tall low, short
nagai desu
ながいです
mijikai desu
みじかいです
long short
omoi desu
おもいです
karui desu
かるいです
heary light
kakkoii desu
かっこいいです
cool, groovy, hot

9. Japanese words for colors as adjective
Color in
English
Predicate
with です
Modify nouns
as i-adj.
Modify nouns
with の
Noun as
color name
black くろ(い)です くろい くろ
white しろ (い) です しろい しろ
blue あお (い) です あおい あお (いろ)
red あか (い) です あかい あか (いろ)
yellow きいろです きいろい きいろの きいろ
brown ちゃいろです ちゃいろい ちゃいろの ちゃいろ
green みどりです みどり (いろ) の みどり (いろ)
purple むらさきです むらさき (いろ) の むらさき (いろ)
pink ピンクです ピンク (いろ) の ピンク (いろ)
orange オレンジです オレンジ (いろ) の オレンジ (いろ)
any other colors <color>です <color> (いろ) の <color> (いろ)