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Daily lessons · Day 15 of 90

Adjectives: describing things

Say what something is like

Until now you have named things. Today you start describing them, which is where sentences begin to sound like your own rather than a phrasebook. Japanese has two kinds of adjective and they behave differently, so the first job is telling them apart. Get that right on day one and everything built on adjectives for the next three months falls into place.

い-adjectives

These end in い and carry their own tense. They need no です to make sense, only to be polite:

kono hon wa omoshiroi desu.
This book is interesting.
おもしろい covers interesting, funny and entertaining.
takai desu.
It's expensive.
たかい means both expensive and tall. Context separates them.
kono mise wa yasui desu.
This shop is cheap.
やすい cheap, the opposite of たかい in the price sense.
atarashii kuruma
a new car
Before a noun, nothing changes. Just put it in front.
Why it works

The い is part of the word and part of the grammar at the same time. When you change the tense you change that い, not the です: たかかったです for was expensive, never たかいでした. This is the mistake that marks a beginner most clearly, and it is worth over-learning now.

な-adjectives

These behave like nouns, and take な when they come before a noun:

kono machi wa shizuka desu.
This town is quiet.
No い on the end, so it takes the noun pattern.
shizuka na machi
a quiet town
The な appears only here, before the noun. This is where the name comes from.
benri desu.
It's convenient.
べんり is one you will use constantly in Japan.
yūmei na hito
a famous person
ゆうめい ends in い but is a な-adjective. So is きれい.
Why it works

Two words break the rule and you should learn them as exceptions today: きれい (pretty, clean) and ゆうめい (famous). Both end in い and both are な-adjectives, so it is きれいな はな, not きれいはな. Almost every other word ending in い behaves as an い-adjective.

Making them negative

Two different negatives, one for each type:

takakunai desu.
It isn't expensive.
Drop the い, add くない.
shizuka ja nai desu.
It isn't quiet.
な-adjectives take the noun negative, じゃない.
amari takakunai desu.
It isn't very expensive.
あまり softens it, and needs the negative to work.
ii desu / yokunai desu
It's good / It isn't good
いい is the one irregular adjective. Every form but the plain present uses よ.
Why it works

So the whole test is the ending. い-adjective, use くない. な-adjective, use じゃない. Say たかいじゃないです or しずかくないです and a Japanese speaker will understand you but will notice immediately. Sorting each new adjective into one of the two boxes as you learn it costs nothing now and saves a great deal later.

Carry over, from earlier days

kono hon wa omoshiroi desu.
This book is interesting.
shizuka na machi
a quiet town
takakunai desu.
It isn't expensive.
amari takakunai desu.
It isn't very expensive.

Check yourself

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