Adjectives Thursday, Dec 8 2005
Level 1 7:12 pm
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 !!!
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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