| All About Adjectives | |
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Page 2 of 2
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 | chiisai inu 小さい犬 |
small dog |
| takai tokei 高い時計 |
expensive watch | |
| Na-Adjectives | yuumeina gaka 有名な画家 |
famous painter |
| sukina eiga 好きな映画 |
favorite movie |
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).
| Informal | Present Negative | Replace the final ~ i with ~ ku nai |
| Past | Replace the final ~ i with ~ katta | |
| Past Negative | Replace the final ~ i with ~ ku nakatta | |
| Formal | Add ~desu to all of the informal forms. | |
| 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. |
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Here is how the adjective "takai (expensive)" is conjugated.
| Informal | Formal | |
| Present | takai 高い |
takai desu 高いです |
| Present Negative | takaku nai 高くない |
takaku nai desu 高くないです takaku arimasen 高くありません |
| Past | takakatta 高かった |
takakatta desu 高かったです |
| Past Negative | takaku nakatta 高くなかった |
takaku nakatta desu 高くなかったです takaku arimasen deshita 高くありませんでした |
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".
| Informal | Formal | |
| Present | ii いい |
ii desu いいです |
| Present Negative | yoku nai 良くない |
yoku nai desu 良くないです yoku arimasen 良くありません |
| Past | yokatta 良かった |
yokatta desu 良かったです |
| Past negative | yoku nakatta 良くなかった |
yoku nakatta desu 良くなかったです yoku arimasen deshita 良くありませんでした |
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.
| Informal | Formal | |
| Present | yuumei da 有名だ |
yuumei desu 有名です |
| Present Negative | yuumei dewa nai 有名ではない |
yuumei dewa arimasen 有名ではありません |
| Past | yuumei datta 有名だった |
yuumei deshita 有名でした |
| Past negative | yuumei dewa nakatta 有名ではなかった |
yuumei dewa arimasen deshita 有名ではありませんでした |
I-Adjectives and Na-Adjectives > Page 1, 2
