Basic Course
Free
- 3 lessons
- 0 quizzes
- 96 week duration
Lesson 1: How to classify Japanese adjectives?
There are two types of adjectives in Japanese.
They are i-adj and na-adj.
How to judge the type of an adjective?
| There is a い in the end of a i-adj, that’s why they are called as i-adj. And if you want to use i-adj to describe nouns, it will be very simple. It’s the same as English. For example: 高い山 a high mountain 高い is a i-adj(There is a い in the end, right?), its meaning is “high”. And 山 is a noun, its meaning is “mountain”. |
| However, na-adj is different. Usually, a na-adj is two kanji(like 親切、安全、危険), or one kanji+か(静か、明らか、確か), But there are other patterns too. If you want to use na-adj to describe nouns, you need to add a な between na-adj and noun. So if you see a な before a noun, then it means that you met a na-adj. For example, 静かな部屋 quiet room 静か is a na-adj, its meaning is “quiet”, 部屋 is a noun, its meaning is “room”. 親切な人 kind person 親切 is a na-adj, its meaning is “kind”, 人 is a noun, its meaning is “person”. |
Exceptions:
| There are two exceptions that are similar to i-adj, but they are na-adj. ①きれい: its meaning is “beautiful”. For example, きれいな女性 beautiful woman. The kanji of きれい is 綺麗, because it’s hard to write, many people use hiragana instead. ②嫌い: its meaning is “dislike”. For example, 嫌いな人 people I dislike. |
207+
Next
Lesson 2: i-adj
5 thoughts on “Lesson 1: How to classify Japanese adjectives?”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Sir, I heard yuumei (famous) is na-adj. Is that true? And thank you for this amazing site.
yes！ And you are welcome! If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in the forum! Forum
有名な人
I’ve noticed 大きい and 小さい can also be written as 大きな and 小さな. Are these i-adjective or na-adjectives and why do they appear to have both forms?
大きな、小さな is often used to describe abstract things, and 大きい、小さい is often used to describe specific things.