Combination of 2 adjectives with “~te” Tuesday, Jan 24 2006
Level 2 7:58 am
As promise yesterday, today I will cover the first part of using “~te” form. It is to combine 2 adjectives in 1 sentence. Here we go!!!
This string. Strong string - Hosoi ito desu. Tsuyoi ito desu.
The string is thin but strong - Hosokute tsuyoi ito desu.
Thin magazine. Interesting magazine. - Usui zasshi desu. Omoshiroi zasshi desu.
The magazine is thin but interesting - Usukute omoshiroi zasshi desu
Old Temple. Famous Temple. - Furui Otera. Yuumei na otera.
The temple is old but famous. - Furukute yuumei na otera desu.
Meaning : Hosoi (Thin - Use for human, long item), Tsuyoi (Strong), Usui (Use for books, papers), Zasshi (Magazine), Omoshiroi (Interesting), Otera (Temple)
You can also combine Adjectives + Verbs. Example : Kono kuruma wa takakute kaenai desu (I couldn’t buy this car because it is too expensive).
Yesterday, I covered the conversion from Verbs to ~te form (ie. Kaku >> Kaite). Today I will show you how to convert adjective into ~te form as shown in the examples above.
| Normal Form Remove the “i” and replace by “kute” Takai (Expensive) Omoi (Heavy) Hayai (Fast) Warui (Bad / Poor) Muzugashii (Difficult) Oishii (Delicious) Special adjectives where you have add a “de” at the end |
~te form
Takakute Shizukade |
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July 24th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
so, would you say that when one uses a て to combine adjectives, it means “and or but” and not like situations in English where one uses a comma between adjectives (tall, quiet men)?
Hopefully your response will auto email to me.
July 24th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Hi Claytonian,
Translating from Japanese to English is difficult sometime :D. By the way, the following is a detail for the lesson above
Japanese : Hosokute tsuyoi ito desu.
This is used when you are mentioning something which is weak but it has it strong point. In the above example : The string is thin (Hosoi) (most people would immediately think the string is weak because it is thin). Although it is thin but it’s strong (Tsuyoi).
So to say that the string is thin (negative) but it is strong (positive) in japanese = Hosokute tsuyoi ito desu
I hope the explanation could give you a clear idea.
July 24th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
thank you
so do you think “tall, quiet men” translates as “高い、静かな男”? or would you say it in the style of this lesson, and say, “高くて静かな男”? Probably the first one, right?
by the way, does this blog have a feed?
July 24th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Hi Claytonian,
Yes, you can use 高くて静かな男.