Japanese Adjectives: Learn the Types and Usage

Japanese adjectives are not only essential for forming sentences but also for making our sentences more interesting and expressive. With adjectives, we are able to express different emotions and provide more detailed descriptions of people, places and things. Adjectives give us the power to add depth to our sentences.

You can make both your written and spoken language more engaging and enjoyable when you use adjectives. So, are you ready to take on some adjectives in Japanese?

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about Japanese adjectives. First, we’ll look at the two types of adjectives. Then we’ll show you the different forms of each type. By the end of this article, you will be able to recognize and use all types of Japanese adjectives. Let’s get started!

Two types of Japanese adjectives

In Japanese, all adjectives fall into two categories – i-adjectives and na-adjectives.

The adjectives whose basic form ends with the syllable i (い) are called i-adjectives. Naturally, those adjectives ending with the syllable na (な) are called na-adjectives.

The reason we need two categories of adjectives is because they each have their own conjugation – that is, they form sentences in different ways.

Before we start talking about conjugation or making sentences, let’s have a look at a list of i-adjectives.

Besides the above-mentioned vocabulary, you might already know some other words, such as oishii (美味しい), which means ‘tasty’ or ‘yummy,’ and kawaii (かわいい), which means ‘cute’ or ‘adorable’. Yes, those are i-adjectives as well!

Next, let’s look at some na-adjectives.

Now we are ready to look at how we can make use of these adjectives by focusing on various sentence patterns. Here we go!

Using Japanese adjectives to modify nouns

When i-adjectives and na-adjectives are used as modifiers of nouns, they take the basic form and are placed before nouns, just like in English. Let’s modify the word niwa (にわ), which means ‘garden,’ with both i-adjectives and na-adjectives.

With an i-adjective: _ōkii niwa_ (おおきい にわ) → big garden

With a na-adjective: _kireina niwa_ (きれいな にわ) → beautiful garden

As you can see, using adjectives in this way is very straightforward. You just need to put the adjective before the noun.

Japanese adjectives as predicates

We can use an adjective in a sentence using the simple sentence pattern below:

— wa — desu (— は— です).

Translated to English, this sentence means, “ is .”

Let’s pick one adjective each from the lists of i-adjectives and na-adjectives we looked at earlier.

Using the i-adjective ōkii (おおきい) and the na-adjective kireina (きれいな), we can describe the condition of a hotel. To say, “The hotel is big” with the ‘— wa — desu’ (— は— です) pattern, you can simply put the subject hoteru (ホテル) in the first blank and say ōkii (おおきい) in the second blank:

Hoteru wa ōkii desu (ホテルは おおきいです). (The hotel is big.)

You can see that using i-adjectives is very simple with this sentence pattern.

But as for Japanese na-adjectives, you may need to pay more attention when using this pattern. When the adjective is followed by the word desu (です), the ending na (な) has to be dropped.

For example, if you wish to say, “The hotel is beautiful,” the sentence would look like this:

Hoteru wa kirei desu. (ホテルは きれいです). (The hotel is beautiful.)

Because the adjective kireina (きれいな) comes before the word desu (です), the adjective form changes to kirei (きれい), without na (な) at the end.

To sum up, the formula for adjective sentences is:

(noun) _wa_ (i-adjective ending with i) _desu_.

or

(noun) _wa_ (na-adjective without na) _desu_.

Fear not if you are feeling a bit confused with these sentences. When the na (な) from a na-adjective is removed, it looks like an i-adjective, right? As you can see in the list of na-adjectives we looked at earlier, some na-adjectives have the i (い) sound before the ending na (な). This is why knowing the type of adjective is very important.

Because of this, it’s a good idea to learn the na-adjectives that have an i (い) sound before na (な). Below is a list of these. Just take note of these – there are not so many!

Negative and past tense of adjective sentences

Now we will look at how to make negative sentences, past affirmative sentences, and past negative sentences.

With i-adjectives, we replace the final i (い) with kunai (くない) for present negative (like “is not new”). In past tense sentences the i is replaced with katta (かった), and in past negative sentences with kunakatta (くなかった). The table below shows each pattern with examples.

There is one exception to these patterns. That adjective is ii (いい), which means ‘good.’ For this adjective, the negative form is yokunai ( よくない).

This may seem a bit tricky, but if you are familiar with the other way to say ‘good,’ then it may be easier to remember. Although the common and casual word for ‘good’ is ii (いい), you can also refer to something good as yoi (よい). With this word, you can apply the rule of removing the i (い) and adding kunai (くない) to create the negative form, yokunai (よくない).

So, for both ii (いい) and yoi (よい), apply the conjugation patterns as follows:

Present negative → yokunai desu (よくない です) → is not good

Past affirmative → yokatta desu (よかった です) → was good

Past negative → yokunakatta desu (よくなかった です) → was not good

For na-adjectives, the conjugation pattern follows the basic verb desu (です). If you have already learned the different forms of desu (です), you will not have any problem. Desu (です) should be changed to dewa arimasen (ではありません) for negative sentences, deshita (でした) for past affirmative sentences, and dewa arimasen deshita (ではありませんでした) for past negative sentences. You can see these in the examples and table below.

Anna san wa genki desu. (アンナさんは元気です) → Anna is fine.

Anna san wa genki dewa arimasen. (アンナさんは元気ではありません) → Anna is not fine.

Anna san wa genki deshita. (アンナさんは元気でした) → Anna was fine.

Anna san wa genki dewa arimasen deshita. (アンナさんは元気ではありませんでした) → Anna was not fine.

Using Japanese adjectives in questions

Turning a regular sentence with an adjective into a question is super simple. We can just add ka (か) at the end of the sentence, and the sentence changes into a question. There is absolutely no need to change the order of the words. How simple is that?!

Let’s take a look at some questions based on our previous examples:

• Hoteru wa ōkii desu. (ホテルは おおきいです)
  (The hotel is big.)
  

• Hoteru wa ōkii desu ka. (ホテルは おおきいですか) (Is the hotel big?)
  

• Hoteru wa kirei desu. (ホテルは きれいです)
  (The hotel is beautiful.)
  

• Hoteru wa kirei desu ka. (ホテルは きれいですか)
  (Is the hotel beautiful?)
  

List of Japanese adjectives

Now that you understand how the two types of adjectives work, here’s a list of some of the most common adjectives, each one paired with its opposite. As you look at this list, be sure to note which words are i-adjectives and which are na-adjectives.

• Delicious – oishii (おいしい)
• Disgusting – mazui (まずい)
• Beautiful – kireina (きれいな)
• Ugly – minikui ( みにくい )
• Expensive – takai (たかい) 　
• Cheap – yasui ( やすい )
• Bright – akarui (あかるい)
• Dark – kurai (くらい)
• Clean – seiketsuna (せいけつな)
• Dirty – kitanai (きたない )
• Soft – yawarakai (やわらかい)
• Hard – katai ( かたい)
• Strong – tsuyoi (つよい)
• Weak – yowai ( よわい)
• Safe – anzenna (あんぜんな)
• Dangerous – kikenna ( きけんな)
• Deep – fukai (ふかい)
• Shallow – asai ( あさい)
• Fast – hayai (はやい)
• Slow – osoi (おそい )
• Busy – isogashi (いそがしい)
• Free – himana (ひまな )
• Difficult – muzukashii ( むずかしい）　
• Easy – kantanna ( かんたんな)
• Quiet – shizukana (しずかな)
• Noisy – urusai (うるさい )
  
• Lively – nigiyakana ( にぎやかな)

Unique adjectives: like and dislike

In this section we will look at two particular adjectives, sukina (すきな), which means ‘like,’ and kiraina (きらいな), which means ‘dislike.’ Both are na-adjectives.

Why are these two so special and unique?

Because they have meanings corresponding to verbs in English, not adjectives.

This may feel a bit strange at first, but as long as you keep in mind that they are na-adjectives, you will have no problem understanding and forming sentences that use them.

Let’s form some phrases to make this clear. We mentioned earlier that to modify a noun, we just need to put an adjective before the noun. Using a simple noun like hito (人), which means ‘person,’ we can easily say ‘the person I like’ or ‘the person I do not’ like as follows:

sukina hito (すきな人 ) → the person I like

kiraina hito (きらいな人) → the person I do not like

If you need to say that you like or don’t like a certain object, the object should be marked with particle ga (が) to form a sentence such as the ones below:

Nihongo ga suki desu. (日本語がすきです) → I like the Japanese language.

Nihongo ga kirai desu. (日本語がきらいです) → I don’t like the Japanese language.

Wrapping up

We have covered almost everything you need to know about Japanese adjectives, so hopefully by now you've become more confident using them.

As a reminder, here are the key points to always keep in mind:

• The importance of classifying Japanese adjectives into two groups (i-adjectives and na-adjectives)
• The conjugation for each of the two groups
• The unique adjectives sukina and kiraina, which are used differently than in English

By learning these key points and building up your vocabulary of adjectives, you’ll be equipped with a very useful Japanese language skill. Keep on practising, and never stop learning!