adjectives

Part 1 a short pencil

Japanese adjectives has two kinds ; i adjective and na adjective. They have the past tense. They have special forms for negative expression.

Note ; All these adjectives in the dictonary form have a stem with " i ". That is why they are called " i adjective ".

Note; All these adjectives above are follwed by nouns. This is attributive.

Note; " taka-i " has two meanings.

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Part 2 a handsome actor

Look at the second type of adjective.

Note ; All these adjectives in the dictonary form have a stem with " na ". That is why they are called " na adjective."

Note; All these adjectives above are follwed by nouns. This is attributive, too.

Note; " kirei-na " has two meanings..

Note; " genki " and " shinsetsu " are originally nouns. Some abstract nouns can be turned into na adjectives just by putting "-na" at the tail

Note ; " hansamu-na " is off course originally a word borrowed from a foreign language. Some of them can be turned into na adjectives just by putting "na" at the tail

You can see some more examples below.

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Part 3 Is this book expensive ?

We can make sentences by making use of i adjectives.

Note : All these adjectives above are follwed by subjects. ( However, when you answer the question, in most cases the subjects are dropped. ) This is predicative.

Note : You can see examples of declarative sentence above. Just add " desu " after i adjective. In interrogative sentences, add " desuka " instead of " desu ".

In negative sentences, there are two ways; Take " -i " away and then, add " -kunai desu " or " -ku arimasen ". Compare this with other negatives already learnd, "-jya arimasen" and "-masen"

Exercises ;

• 大きい ooki-i →大きくないです ooki-kunai desu / 大きくありません ooki-ku arimasen
• 高い taka-i →高くないです taka-kunai desu / 高くありませんtaka-ku arimasen
• 長い naga-i →長くないです naga-kunai desu / 長くありません naga-ku arimasen
• 青い ao-i →青くないです ao-kunai desu / 青くありません ao-ku arimasen

Note : Negative form " -kunai " can be applied to attributive use if you don't put "desu" at the end of the sentence.

Examples ;

• 短い鉛筆 mijika-i enpitsu →短くない鉛筆 mijika-kunai enpitsu 　
• 古い靴下 huru-i kutsushita →古くない靴下 huru-kunai kutsushita
• よい味 yo-i aji →よくない味 yo-kunai aji

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Part 4 Is that salesperson kind ?

They are the sentences ued by na adjectives.

Note : All these adjectives above are follwed by subjects and end with " desu ". ( However, when you answer the question, in most cases the subjects are dropped. ) This is predicative, in which " na " is completely dropped.

Note : You can see above examples of declarative sentence. Take away " -na " and just add " desu " after the adjective. In interrogative sentences, add " desuka " instead of " desu ".

In negative sentences, take away " -na " and then, add " -jya arimasen " or " -jyanai desu ". This is the same pattern as we have learned. ( Taro is a salesperson.- Part 2 )

Exercises ;

• 元気です genki desu →元気じゃありません genki-jya arimasen / 元気じゃないです genki-jyanai desu
• 親切です shinsetsu desu→親切じゃありません shinsetsu-jya arimasen / 親切じゃないです shinsetsu-janai desu　
• シンプルです shinpuru desu →シンプルじゃありません shinpuru-jya arimasen / シンプルじゃないですshinpuru-jyanai desu　
• 清潔です seiketsu desu →清潔じゃありません seiketsu-jya arimasen / 清潔じゃないです seiketsu-jya arimasen

Note ; The negative pattern cannot be applied to attributive use.

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Part 5 What was the girl like ?

When you want to ask someone characteristics of a thing or a person, that is, the color, size, weight, length, height etc., you use " donna ". Questions beginning with "donna" may lead to answers containing ajectives with nouns.

Note; 犬 inu = dog

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In Japanese, there is a special type of adjective which expresses your own impressions. The subjects are, in most cases, supposed to be something other than persons. If you want to ask someone how he likes or feels, then ask a question ending with " wa doo desuka ".

Notes ; These five adjectives above must be taken great care of, because there are many special usages mentioned later.

Noets ; とても = very much ( usually used in the affirmative ) あまり・・・ない = not...very ( usually used in the negative or inteerogative ) 少し = a little, a few ( usually used in the affirmative )

Notes ; . They are all i adjectives except 残念な. In case these adjectives have a person as a subject, I'll tell you later.

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Part 7 It was cold yesterday.

Notes ;The examples above are all i adjectives. You can see the past tense affirmative and the past tense negative. There are two kinds of negative type.

Exercises ;

• 大きい ooki-i →大きかったです ooki-katta desu　→大きくなかったです・大きくありませんでした ooki-ku nakatta desu / ooki-ku arimasen deshita
• 高い taka-i →高かったです taka-katta desu　→高くなかったです・高くありませんでした taka-ku nakatta desu / taka-ku arimasen deshita
• 長い naga-i →長かったです naga-katta desu　→長くなかったです・長くありませんでした naga-ku nakatta desu / naga-ku arimasen deshita
• 青い ao-i →青かったです ao-katta desu　→青くなかったです・青くありませんでした ao-ku nakatta desu / ao-ku arimasen deshita

Notes ;The examples above are all na adjectives. There are also two kinds of the past tense negative.

Exercises ;

• 元気です genki desu →元気でした genki deshita →元気でありませんでした genki-de arimasen deshita / 元気でなかったです genki-de nakatta desu
• 親切です shinsetsu desu→親切でしたshinsetsu deshita →親切でありませんでした shinsetsu de arimasen deshita / 親切でなかったです shinsetsu-de nakatta desu
• シンプルです shinpuru desu →シンプルでした shinpuru deshita →シンプルでありませんでした shinpuru-de arimasen deshita / シンプルでなかったです shinpuru-de nakatta desu
• 清潔です seiketsu desu →清潔でした seiketsu deshita →清潔でありませんでした seiketsu-de arimasen deshita /清潔でなかったです seiketsu-de nakatta desu

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Part 8 This apple is red and tasty.

Notes ; When the first of the adjective is " i " adjective, " -kute " is used as AND. When the first of the adjective is " na " adjective, then " -de " is used as AND.

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Part 9 This painting is old, but beautiful.

When you want to emphasize the good point of one adjective and the bad point of the other adjective, " desu ga " is used when the latter message is contrary to your expectation.

Notes ; This " ga " does not always mean BUT.

After " ga ", it is recommendable to put " 、" .

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