All About Adjectives

Part1: I-Adjectives and Na-Adjectives

There are two types of adjectives in Japanese: i-adjectives and na-adjectives. I-adjectives all end in "~ i," though they never end in "~ ei" (e.g. "kirei" is not an i-adjective.)

Japanese adjectives differ from their English counterparts. Although Japanese adjectives have functions to modify nouns like English adjectives, they also function as verbs when used as predicates. For example, "takai（高い）" in the sentence "takai kuruma （高い車）" means, "expensive". "Takai（高い）" of "kono kuruma wa takai （この車は高い）" means not just "expensive" but "is expensive". When i-adjectives are used as predicates, they may be followed by "~ desu（～です）" to indicate a formal style. "Takai desu （高いです）" also means, "is expensive" but it is more formal than "takai （高い）".

Here are lists of common i-adjectives and na-adjectives.

Common I-Adjectives



Common Na-Adjectives

Part 2: The Use of Adjectives

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.



I-Adjectives as Predicates

As mentioned on the previous page, adjectives can function like verbs. Therefore, they conjugate just like verbs (but probably much more simply).



Here is how the adjective "takai (expensive)" is conjugated.



There is only one exception to the rule of i-adjectives, which is "ii (good)". "Ii" derives from "yoi," and its conjugation is mostly based on "yoi".



Na-Adjectives as Predicates

They are called na-adjectives because "~ na" marks this group of adjectives when directly modifying noun (e.g. yuumeina gaka). Unlike i-adjectives, na-adjectives cannot be used as predicates themselves. When a na-adjective is used as a predicate, the final "na" is deleted and followed by either "~ da" or "~ desu (in formal speech)". As with nouns, "~ da" or "~ desu" changes its form to express the past tense, the negative, and the affirmative.

dis is so helpful! arigatou gozaimasu minna san!!!!!!!!!!!

is there something like degrees of comparison?