BackGrammar JLPT Level N5 - Lesson 2
Structure of い-Adjective:
Details about い-Adjective:
In Japanese, words that describe nouns are called adjectives. One type, known as an い-Adjective, is easily identified because its dictionary form always ends with the hiragana character い.
- 高い山。A high mountain.
- 面白い映画。An interesting movie.
While it's true that the dictionary form of an い-Adjective will always conclude with い, you must be careful, as some words that end in い are not い-Adjectives at all. Below are a few common examples that often trip up learners.
- あの店員はていねい。That clerk is polite.
- この町も有名。This town is also famous.
Take the word ゆうめい (famous) from the examples. When written in kanji, it is 有名. The final い sound is part of the reading for the second kanji, 名. This is different from true い-Adjectives, where the final い is always written as a separate hiragana character after the kanji. Since words like 有名 are often written only in hiragana, they can look like い-Adjectives. There isn't a simple trick to tell these words apart, so they must be memorized. Fortunately, the list of these exceptions is quite small, and you'll get used to them with practice.
Caution
A key difference from な-Adjectives is that い-Adjectives cannot be followed by the plain-form copula, だ. This is because だ attaches to nouns, and な-Adjectives behave like nouns. To make an い-Adjective more polite, you should use です instead.
- 冬の北海道は、寒いです。Hokkaido is cold in the winter. (Natural Japanese)
- パーティーは楽しいだ。The party is fun. (Unnatural Japanese)
Fun Fact
Interestingly, from a strictly grammatical perspective, adding です to an い-Adjective is technically improper. This is because です is the polite equivalent of だ and should logically follow the same rules, meaning it should only pair with nouns and な-Adjectives. Despite this, the usage is so widespread that virtually all native speakers use it and consider it completely natural.
Usage Notes for い-Adjective:
Synonyms for い-Adjective:
Example of い-Adjective
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