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.  

です

です can be used in a lot of different ways. We can also make it into a negative, past tense, and past negative.

From there, we can make many different sentences!

So let's start with a sentence we know.

これはりんごです。This is an apple.

If we want to say 'This was an apple,' all we have to do is change です to でした。

これはりんごでした。This was an apple. 

Now how about the negative? What happens if it's not an apple? Then we use ではありません。


これはりんごではありません。This is not an apple. 


Finally, if we want to say 'This wasn't an apple.' (Don't know why you'd need it but...) 

これはりんごではありませんでした。

Awesome. :)

If you are ever looking at a strange object, red or green, and apple shaped, but you are still questioning they authenticity of it, then you can say これはりんごでしょう。This would probably be an apple. 

So this is what I know about です. There is a lot you can do with this knowledge :) If you add か to these then you can turn them into questions. 

これはりんごでしたか？Was this an apple?

Sally

これは＿＿＿です。

The next step after basic introductions is basic sentence structure. We need to know how to say what something is. This is a pretty simple sentence.

これはりんごです。This is an apple. 

それはりんごです。That is an apple. 

あれはりんごです。That over there is an apple.

これ means 'this.' You use これ if the item you are referring to is near you. 

それ means 'that.' You use it when the item is near the person you are speaking to.

あれ also means 'that.' But more specifically, 'that over there.' It is used when the item is a distance from you and the person you are speaking to. 

は is the topic particle, again.
りんご means 'apple.' 
で す makes the sentence polite (to be.)

これはりんごです。
____ ___   ___
This    apple   is.

Now, you can say what things are in Japanese.

これはほんです。This is a book.
それはかさです。That is an umbrella.
あれはぎんこうです。That (over there) is a bank.

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