Adjectives
Today, I will show you how to use positive and negative adjectives.
Q : Is it long? – Nagai desu ka? 「ながいですか?」
Positive A : Yes, it’s long – Hai, nagai desu 「はい、ながいです」
Negative A : No, it isn’t long – Iie, nagaku arimasen 「いいえ、ながくありません」
Meaning : Nagai (Long)
See the difference between positive and negative answer? Yes, Japanese uses different pronunciation for positive and negative adjectives. For adjectives, it is no longer use “dewa arimasen” that I have covered earlier.
It is not difficult to convert from positive to negative adjectives. Whenever the adjectives ending with “i” (exp: nagai), remove the “i” and change to “ku” (exp: nagaku). See, it’s simple.
Other Adjectives
Short – Mijikai (みじかい)
New – Atarashii (あたらしい)
Old – Furui (ふるい)
Big – Ookii (おおきい)
Small – Chiisai (ちいさい)
Fat – Futoi (ふとい)
Thin – Hosoi (ほそい)
Expensive – Takai (たかい)
Cheap – Yasui (やすい)
Heavy – Omoi (おもい)
Light – Karui (かるい)
Fast – Hayai (はやい)
Slow – Osoi (おそい)
Some adjectives are having the same pronunciation but different meaning. To diffirentiate them, normally it is base on the sentences you use.
Example:
Takai can be used for Expensive or Tall / High.
If you like to, post the negative adjectives in comments as to pratice the conversion. I will let you know if there is any mistakes. There are just too many adjectives where I can’t put eveything here. Throughout the whole course, I will teach you new words. Stay Tune !!!
January 14th, 2007 at 3:05 am
Hi tony,
my book says that na-adjectives for example: yuumei(na) turn into yuumei ja arimasen
and that the i adjectives for example: furui turn into furukunai desu.
can i say furuku arimasen also? like you demonstratated with nagai
January 14th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Hi Chris,
Yes, you can use “furuku arimasen”
In fact both “furuku nai” and “furuku arimasen” meant the same except on the politeness. “Arimasen” is a poplite form where “nai” is an non-converted form (inpolite or friend conversation)
Regards
September 1st, 2007 at 6:19 am
Hi! I’ve also heard people using “ja nai” so, for informal converstions, can people say “furuku ja nai”?
Thanks:)
September 1st, 2007 at 10:46 am
Hi Samara,
You cannot use “Furuku Janai”. Since Furui ends with an “i”, you must use Furukunai (convert “i” to “ku”)
Janai is use for words that cannot be converted to “ku”. Example : Kirei (although it ends with “i” but before “i” it uses the “4th sound (ra ri ru re ro) and this is classified as special word that cannot be converted to “ku”. In this case, we have to use “Kirei Janai”
Hope this helps
May 12th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
hi tony, i’ve heard people use “hayaku” when hastening others. since hayai is faster then is hayaku the negative adjective? sorry i’m a little confused.
May 12th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Hi Tarelyn,
Hayai = Fast
Hayaku = Faster
Hope this help. Thanks
September 10th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
The textbook wrote
Kaisha no shokudo wa yasui desu ka?
Is company canteen cheap?
I find it extremely dumb!
Isn’t it suppose to be Kaisha no shokudo no tabemono wa yasui desu ka?
September 10th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
You are correct. I would replace the “wa” with “ni wa”
Kaisha no shokudo ni wa yasui desu ka. (Ia it cheap in the company’s canteen.
December 24th, 2009 at 11:17 am
you said that hayai means fast while hayaku means faster, but when I translate ‘faster than light’ in google translate it became ‘hikari yori hayai’. Why it use hayai instead of hayaku ?
December 24th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Hi Dilmer,
That’s is different. You cannot use English as direct translation to Japanese.
When “than (yori)” is used, you cannot convert “hayai” to “hayaku”. In English, when “than” is used, the adjective of “fast” has to be changed to “faster”
“Hayaku” is normally used when you are asking someone to do “something” faster. Example: Walk faster (hayaku aruite kudasai)” or “faster, faster (hayaku, hayaku)
Hope this help
December 24th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
I see that, but can we use ‘hikari yori hayaku’ instead of ‘hikari yori hayai’ ? thanks for the explanations
December 24th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
I still a bit confuse, sorry, so can we use ‘hikari yori hayaku’ instead of ‘hikari yori hayai’ ? thanks for the explanations
December 24th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Depends on the sentence you use.
Kobayashi yori hayaku owaremasu (hayaku can be use)
I can finish faster than Kobayashi
Kare no takasa wa Kobayashi yori takai (takaku cannot be used)
His height is taller than Kobayashi
Hope this help
February 19th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
When you use “furuku nai”, do you have to put the verb “desu”?, for example: “furukunai desu”. Or can you let it like “furuku nai” only?.
thanks
February 20th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Hi Duke,
Adding a “desu” is a polite form. Without the “desu” is friend’s conversation (inpolite). Both can be used depending on who you are conversing to.
August 18th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Howdy,
I saw you posted the i-adjectives, but I don’t see the na-adjectives. Is that in a later lesson?
benri na- useful // atsui- hot
Thanks, I love this site!!
August 19th, 2010 at 5:52 am
Hunter, it was posted here : http://nihongo.anthonet.com/na/
August 19th, 2010 at 10:47 am
Oh, I see, thanks. What about making negative na adjectives? ookinadesu- ookidewaarimasen/jaarimasen/janai. And what happens if the adjective comes after the noun, can that happen? “The pen is red?”
August 19th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
The negative part has been covered too. Please use the search at the sidebar to search for “dewa arimasen”, “janai”, etc.
For “The Pen is red” – Pen wa akai desu
For “The red pan” – Akai na pen desu or Aka pen desu
October 31st, 2012 at 8:02 pm
Hayai desu ka?
Negative should be
Hayai arimasen or hayaku arimasen?
October 31st, 2012 at 8:40 pm
Hayaku Arimasen or Hayakunai
November 1st, 2012 at 9:59 am
Tony your the best! Awesome tutorial and examples on how to speak jap properly..I’m gonna do a donation soon after I fix my paypal..really thankful for this site!
November 1st, 2012 at 5:41 pm
Hi Daniel,
Thank you. Glad that you like the site.
February 10th, 2015 at 1:44 pm
konnichiwa,
I found so difficult in understanding the 2 adjectives, the “i” and “na”. My question is what if the word adjective does not end with “i” and “na”?
Example: the girl is jumping.
How to translate this into romaji since jumping is “janpu”?
Domou Arigatou Gozaimasu..
I highly appreciated ur help.