Adjectives and Adverbs (形容詞と副詞)

Adjectives describe the qualities and the state of things and people. Adverbs, on the other hand, tell the manner of actions. You will learn how adjectives and adverbs are used, their various forms, and how they can be employed to form a range of comparative sentences.

Adjective types (形容詞の種類)

Adjectives modify nouns. In fact, verbs and nouns can also modify nouns: Verbs in the plain form can be placed before a noun; nouns can be followed by the particle の no and placed before a noun. For example:

これは日本で使ってるかばんです。 Kore wa Nihon de Tsukatteru kaban desu. This is the bag used in Japan.
これは日本のかばんです。Kore wa Nihon no kaban desu. This is a Japanese bag.

However, adjectives have distinct endings when placed before nouns as modifiers. They all end in either い i or な na. For example:

これは高い本です。 Kore wa takai hon desu. This is a very expensive book.
これはゆうめいな本です。 Kore wa yuumei na hon desu. This is a famous book.

Adjectives that end in い i when placed before a noun are called i adjectives. Adjectives that end in な na when placed before a noun are called na adjectives. For example, 高い takai and 高価な kōka na in the examples above both mean expensive, but the former is an i adjective and the latter is a na adjective. Some adjectives were created from words borrowed from other languages. Such adjectives all belong to na adjectives. For example:

ロマンチックな映画 romanchikku na eiga a romantic movie
ハンサムな男性 hansamu na dansei a handsome man
ユニークなアイデア yunīku na aidea a unique idea

There is a third category of adjectives that some linguists call no-type adjectives. However, such an adjective is treated as a noun followed by の no, as in 病気の人 byōki no hito (sick person).

Basic adjective forms (形容詞の基本フォーム)

The part of an adjective without the ending い i or な na (e.g., 高 taka and 高価 kōka) is called the stem. The stem of a na adjective patterns just like a noun: It can be followed by all forms of the copular verb, including です desu, じゃありません ja arimasen, だ da, and だった datta, when used as part of a sentence predicate, just like a noun. Because of this, na adjectives are also called adjectival nouns. The stem of an i adjective is followed by unique inflectional endings, includingい i, くku, and かった katta, when used as a sentence predicate. They can end sentences without being followed by the copular verb. For this reason, i-adjectives are sometimes called adjectival verbs. In this case, the copular verb is not needed except to make the phrase polite.

The following table summarises how adjectives pattern as sentence predicates:

*じゃ ja in the negative forms in this table can be では de wa.

The negative form of いい ii is よくありません yoku arimasen, or よくないです yoku nai desu. 大きい ōkii and 小さい chīsai are i-adjectives, but when used as prenominal modifiers, they have the additional forms 大きな ōki na and 小さな chīsa na.

Te forms of adjectives

To list two or more adjectives in the same sentence, you convert all adjectives in the sentence except the last one to the te form. (Remember that the particle と to can list only nouns; it cannot list verbs and adjectives.) To form a te form of an i adjective, add くて kute to its stem (e.g., 高い takai ® 高くて takakute). To form a te form of a na adjective, add で de to its stem (きれいな kirei na ® きれいで kirei de). The te form of the adjective いい ii is よくて yokute. The last adjective in a sentence can be in the usual form. For example:

田中さんは料理がよくて、やさしくて、かっこいいです。 Tanaka-san wa ryouri ga yokute, yasashikute, kakko ii desu. Mr. Tanaka is a great cook, kind, and cool.
トーマスさんは意地悪で、ひどい人です。 Tōmasu-san wa ijiwaru de, hidoi hito desu. Mr. Thomas is a mean and nasty person.

To form a negative te form of an i adjective, add くなくて ku nakute to its stem (e.g., 高い takai ® 高くなくて takaku nakute). To form a negative te form of a na adjective, add じゃなくて ja nakute to its stem (e.g., きれいな kirei na ® きれいじゃなくて kirei ja nakute). For example:

あまり高くなくて、おいしいです。 Amari takaku nakute, oishii desu. It's not too expensive, and it's delicious.
あまりきれいじゃなくて、よくありません。Amari kirei ja nakute, yoku arimasen. It's not very clean, and it's not good.

If the listed adjectives express contrasting properties, they should be listed in different clauses related by the conjunction particle が ga, as in the following example:

交通が便利じゃなくて、家賃が高いですが、とてもきれいなアパートです。Kōtsū ga benri ja nakute, yachin ga takai desu ga, totemo kirei na apāto desu. The transportation is not convenient and the rent is high, but the apartment is very nice.

The te forms of adjectives, both affirmative and negative, are summarised in the following table:

You can mix adjectives and verbs in the same sentence by using the te form. Depending on the context, they may express a cause-and-effect relationship. For example:

絵が大変でやめました。E ga taihen de yamemashita. I stopped drawing because it was too hard.
仕事がたいへんで、休みたいです。Shigoto ga taihende, yasumitai desu. Work is hard, so I want to take a break.
映画がつまらなくて、寝ちゃった。Eiga ga tsumaranakute, nechatta. The movie was boring, so I fell asleep.

Comparing activities (アクティビティの比較)

You can compare different activities by using a verb as a noun. To use a verb as a noun, you need to add the noun-maker particle の no after the verb. Then you can use the verb as a noun before a particle such as が ga, と to, は wa, or で de. However, の no is not needed when you have a verb before より yori or ほど hodo. For example:

泳ぐのと走るのと、どちらのほうが好きですか。Oyogu no to hashiru no to, dochira no hō ga suki desu ka. Which do you like more: swimming or running?
寝るのが勉強するのより好きです。Neru no ga benkyō suru no yori suki desu. I like sleeping more than studying.
歩くのが運転するより健康にいいです。Aruku no ga unten suru yori kenkō ni ii desu. Walking is healthier than driving.