7.5. Adjectives
7.5.1. Nonpast forms
English adjectives are more similar to nouns than to verbs, and they require the copula be to become predicators. On the other hand, Japanese adjectives are more similar to verbs, and they don't need a copula. They have inflexion like verbs.All Japanese adjectives end with the hiragana い "i" if they are in the non-past form. An adjective consists of a stem and a suffix as verbs do, and the stem never changes while suffixes can change. The final /i/ in the non-past form of an adjective is the suffix, and the rest is the stem. Please note that the suffix for the non-past form of verbs is /u/, and that of adjectives is /i/.
Here are some adjectives:
Adjective | Stem | Suffix | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|
よい yo i | yo | -i | is good |
あつい a tu i | atu | -i | is hot |
うれしい u re si i | uresi | -i | is glad |
おいしい o i si i | oisi | -i | is tasty |
Since adjectives always end with the hiragana い, the stem of an adjective always ends with a vowel. Japanese adjectives are similar to verbs, so you can consider them to be a combination of the copula be and an adjective in English.
These are examples of adjectives:
Kana: | すしはおいしい。 |
Romanization: | Su si wa o i si i . |
Structure: | (noun, sushi) (topic marker) (adjective, is tasty) |
Meaning: | Sushi is tasty. |
Kana: | きものはうつくしい。 |
Romanization: | Ki mo no wa u tu ku si i . |
Structure: | (noun, kimono) (topic marker) (adjective, is beautiful) |
Meaning: | Kimonos are beautiful. |
7.5.2. Past forms
Add the suffix かっ "-katta" to the stem of an adjective to create its past form.Nonpast form | Meaning | Past form | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|
よい yo i | is good | よかった yo ka t ta | was good |
あつい a tu i | is hot | あつかった a tu ka t ta | was hot |
うれしい u re si i | is glad | うれしかった u re si ka t ta | was glad |
おいしい o i si i | is tasty | おいしかった o i si ka t ta | was tasty |
This is an example of the past form of adjectives:
Kana: | すしはおいしかった。 |
Romanization: | Su si wa o i si ka t ta . |
Structure: | (noun, sushi) (topic marker) (adjective, was tasty) |
Meaning: | The sushi was tasty. |
7.5.3. Polite forms
Adjectives don't have a politeness suffix like verbs' politeness suffix ます "masu", so you have to add the polite copula です "desu" to the end of an adjective to make it polite. Make the past form of an adjective first, then add です "desu" to it to make its polite past form.
Examples:
Kana: | すしはおいしいです。 |
Romanization: | Su si wa o i si i de su . |
Structure: | (noun, sushi) (topic marker) (adjective, is tasty) (suffix, polite mode) |
Kana: | すしはおいしかったです。 |
Romanization: | Su si wa o i si ka t ta de su. |
Structure: | (noun, sushi) (topic marker) (adjective, was tasty) (suffix, polite mode) |
The polite past-form adjectives don't end with た "ta" because of the politeness suffix. Making the polite form before making the past form is not allowed for adjectives, which would produce おいしいでした "oisiidesita" in the case of the second example shown above.