Adjectives - い

As mentioned in the previous post there are two types of adjectives, and being able to tell them apart is important as they conjugate differently.

This post will show how to conjugate い-adjectives, which is actually quite easy as it's just changing the ending.

The simplest is the non-past positive version, which is simply the dictionary form of the adjective, for example:

このりんごは美味しいです　(This apple is delicious)

Next, we have the non-past negative version, to form this, we take off the final い and add くない, for example:

このりんごは美味しくないです (This apple is not delicious)

Thirdly we have the past positive version, which we form by removing the final い and adding かった, for example:

このりんごは美味しかったです (This apple was delicious)

And lastly we have the past negative, which is formed by removing the final い and adding くなかった, for example:

このりんごは美味しくなかったです (This apple was not delicious)

And that's about it!, there are other things such as the て-form for adjectives, but that'll be covered separately.

じゃあ、またね！

Adjectives - Overview

Sometimes we need to be able to describe objects, to say things such as "this apple is delicious" or "that book is boring", to do so we need to learn about adjectives.

Adjectives in Japanese come in two groups, い-adjectives and な-adjectives.

い-adjectives are so called, and can be recognised by the fact that they end in an い symbol. It is important to remember that adjectives ending in an い sound (but not い itself), such as き、し、ち、etc. are NOT い-adjectives.

な-adjectives are so called because in their dictionary form, they end in a な.

Adjectives can appear directly before a noun, modifying it, or can appear on its own as a standalone word.

い-adjectives always remain the same, whether they appear before a noun, or on their own, such as in the following two examples.

これは美味しいりんごです (This is a delicious apple)
このりんごは美味しいです (This apple is delicious)

な-adjectives however get their な stripped off when appearing on their own, as in the following two sentences.

それはきれいなくつです (Those are pretty shoes)
そのくつはきれいです (Those shoes are pretty)

Note that although きれい (and きらい) end in the kana い they are actually な-adjectives, there are a few exceptions like this unfortunately :(

That's the basic format of adjectives!, we'll hopefully go through their conjugation in future posts.  

諺コーナー： 朝飯前

Welcome to 諺コーナー (proverb corner)

Hopefully we should be able to get some insight into Japanese culture, and also into casual Japanese by looking at some of their proverbs and sayings

今日の諺は「朝飯前」です

The three kanji comprising this phrase are as follows:

朝　（あさ） morning
飯　（めし） meal
前　（まえ） before

Putting this together we get "morning meal before" as a literal translation, however taking a looser translation we get simply "before breakfast"

This phrase means "piece of cake" and can be used to describe something that is so easy, it can be taken care of "before breakfast"

Both useful, and 朝飯前 to remember

じゃあ、またね

ロビン

Verbs+の

I learned something today (Thanks Rob)

If you use a verb in dictionary form and add の, you can then use it in a similar way to using a noun.

For example, with a noun, you can say.

りんごが好きです。

I like apples.

But, if you use this method with a verb, you can say,

たべるのが好きです。

I like eating! So now, you can describe activities you like to do.

These sentences can get more complicated as you go on;

私はイギリスのりんごをたべるのが好きです。

I like eating English apples.

I'll try and remember this one! There may be other ways you can use verb+の, so when we find out we can most more examples of this.

Thanks!

Sally

今日の単語: ときどき「時々」「sometimes」

今日の単語: ときどき「時々」「sometimes」

e.g
時々は本を読みます。「Sometimes, I read books.」
時々は日本の食べ物を食べます。「Sometimes, I eat Japanese food.」
時々は日本語を勉強します。「Sometimes, I study Japanese.」