This page contains a table including the following: Japanese Adjectives and adverbs. Try to memorize the way they're used because they're very important in communication, and might be very helpful to convey your most important expressions. Make sure to check our Learn Japanese page, which contains several lessons that might help you in your learning process.
This article is not intended to give you a list of all the adjectives in Japanese, but to explain to you what types of adjectives exist, and how they are used.
i-adjective
These adjectives end with a –i (with some exception) and are used as follows.
Normal form : Ureshii desu
Negative form : Ureshikunai desu
Past form : Ureshikatta desu
Past Negative : Ureshikunakatta desu
When you use them in a sentence, you just place them before the noun they refer too :
Ex : Ureshii jikan. うれしい時間. An happy moment.
Kawaikunai neko. かわいくない猫. An ugly cat.
Kono party ha tanokishatta desu. このパーテイはたのしかったです。This party was fun.
Kare ga yasashikunakatta desu. 彼が優しくなかったです。He was not nice.
-Na adjective
These adjectives are used a bit differently :
Normal form : Shiawase da
Negative form : Shiawase ja nai
Past form : Shiawase datta
Past negative : shiawase ja nakatta
When you use these adjectives with a noun, you have to use the particle –na.
Ex : Kirei na inu. きれいな犬。A beautifull dog.
Shizuka na niwa. 静かな庭。A calm garden.
Kanojo ha shinsetsu datta. 彼女は親切だった。She was gentle.
Kono mise ha nigiyaka ja nakatta. この店はにぎやかじゃなかった。This shop was not popular.
Adding adjectives
When you want to use more than one adjective, you have to « link » them with the following grammar :
When the 2 adjectives are both either positives or negatives, you can use them this way :
For the i-adjective : the last one is used as usual (tense, form) but all the ones before are used in the –Te form : Ureshii > ureshikute.
Ex : Yasukute akarui heya desu. 安くて明るい部屋です。It’s a cheap and bright room.
Takakute semakute tookatta apato desu. 高くて狭くて遠かったァパトです。It was an expensive, small and far away apartment.
Yasashikunakute kawaikunai neko desu. やさしくなくてかわいくない猫です。It’s not nice bad looking cat.
For the na-adjectives : you have to link them with –de and the last one is used as usual.
Ex : Kirei de shinsetsu na hito desu. きれいで親切な人です。It’s a beautifull and gentle person.
You can link –i and –na adjectives in the same way :
Ex : Shizuka ja nakute kurai kyoushitsu desu. 静かじゃなくて暗い教室です。It’s a not calm and dark class room.
Majime de yasashii hito desu. まじめで優しい人です。It’s a serious and nice person.
Always remember that you should link adjectives that have the same positive or negative meaning.
If you want to link adjectives with opposite meaning, you can do it as follows :
Kirei desu ga takai desu. きれいですが高いです。It’s beautiful but it’s expensive.
Adverb
The i-adjective can become adverb when you replace the last –i by –ku and using them with a verb.
Ex :
(Samui) >Samuku narimashita. 寒くなりました。It became cold.
(Tanoshikunai) > Tanoshikunaku narimashita. 楽しくなくなりました。It became not fun.
(Chiisai) Chiisaku shite kudasai. 小さくしてください。Make it small.
The –na adjective can become an adverb by using –ni instead of –na to link with a verb.
Ex :
Shizuka ni shite kudasai. 静かにしてください。Be quiet.
Japanese Adjectives Types
So Basically Japanese adjectives come in two main forms: "true" and "adjectivial nouns." In some circles they are also known as "i adjectives" and "na adjectives" because those are the suffixes they get when they're followed by a noun. Nevertheless, we can call them "true" and "adjectivial nouns" in this page, here are some examples of both types:
True Adjectives
Adjectivial Nouns
ii: good
kantan na: easy, as in easy to do
yoi: good
raku na: easy, as in an easy situation; comfortable
warui: bad
kara na: empty
takai: expensive; high; tall
kirei na: pretty; clean
yasui: cheap
kechi na: stingy (not generous)
hikui: low
binbou na: poor; destitute
nagai: long
hinpan na: frequent
mijikai: short
benri na: convenient
katai: hard
fuben na: inconvenient
yawarakai: soft
busaiku na: clumsy; awkward
atsui: hot
tanki na: impatient; quick-tempered
samui: cold
ganko na: stubborn
tsumetai: cold
byouki na: sick
hiroi: wide; spacious
genki na: healthy; to be feeling well
semai: narrow; cramped
shizen na: natural, proper
tsuyoi: strong
yutaka na: full; abundant
yowai: weak
anzen na: safe
kitsui: strong
kanzen na: perfect
abunai: dangerous
akarui: bright
kurai: dark
karui: light
omoi: heavy
furui: old
hayai: fast; early
osoi: slow; late
omoshiroi: interesting
Here is a list of the most used Japanese adjectives, try to memorize them because they're used often:
English
Japanese Adjectives
Pronunciation
Bad
悪い
warui
Beautiful
美しい
utsukushi i
Cheap
安い
yasui
Clean
汚れのない
yogore nonai
Cold
冷たい
tsumeta i
Different
異なる
kotonaru
Difficult
困難
konnan
Early
早く
hayaku
Easy
簡単な
kantan na
Friendly
フレンドリー
furendori^
Good
良い
yoi
Heavy
重い
omoi
Important
重要な
juuyouna
Married
結婚
kekkon
Natural
自然
shizen
Nice
素敵な
suteki na
Open
開く
hiraku
Polite
丁寧
teinei
Poor
貧しい
mazushii
Rich
リッチ
ricchi
Sad
悲しい
kanashi i
Simple
単純な
tanjunna
Slow
ゆっくりした
yukkurishita
Small
小さな
chiisa na
Sweet
甘い
amai
Tall
背が高い
sega takai
Warm
暖かい
atataka i
Well
上手に
jouzu ni
Worse
悪化
akka
Worst
最悪
saiaku
Wrong
間違った
machigatta
I hope the content of this page was useful to you, and that you learned some Japanese adjectives. Try to memorize them to be able to use them in your daily conversations.