Japanese adjectives
From UniLang Wiki
Contents |
Japanese adjectives
From an English point of view Japanese seems to have two kinds of adjectives. They behave differently grammatically, but both types fulfill the role of what we know as "adjectives".
The Japanese names are 形容詞 (Keiyoushi) and 形容動詞 (Keiyoudoushi). Grammatically 形容動詞 behave more like verbs (e.g. they can be conjugated according to tense), while 形容詞 behave more like nouns (and need the copula "desu" / "da", or the desu-form "na").
Predicative usage
形容詞
- 花は美しいです。 (hana wa utsukushii desu). The flower is beautiful.
- 花は美しかったです。 (hana wa utsukushikatta desu) The flower was beautiful.
Here the 形容詞 「美しい」 (utsukushii) is inflected.
- 花�?�美�?��?��?��?�. (hana wa utsukushii desu). The flower is beautiful.
- 花�?�美�?��?��?��?��?��?�. (hana wa utsukushikatta desu) The flower was beautiful.
Here the 形容詞 "美�?��?�" (utsukushii) is inflected, instead the verb-copula "�?��?��? is not inflected.
NOTE: to the 形容詞, �?��?�(desu) is NOT obligatory.
形容動詞
- 今日?暖??.(kyou wa atatakada). Today it is warm.
- 昨日?暖????. (kinou wa atatakadatta). Yesterday it was warm.
Here the 形容動詞"暖?-?" (atataka-da) is inflected to indicate the past.
- 今日?暖???.(kyou wa atatakada). Today it is warm.
- 昨日?暖????. (kinou wa atatakadatta). Yesterday it was warm.
The 形容動詞 "暖?-?(or ??)" (atataka-da(or desu)) is inflected to indicate the past.
at the first section in both the above 形容詞 and 形容動詞 were used as predicates, and the 終止形 (shuushikei) form was used.
Attributive usage
Now for the attributive usage:
- 新??建物 (atarashii tatemono) new building
- 便利?都市 (benri na toshi) convenient city
The 形容詞 "新??" (atarashii) is unchanged, while the 形容動詞 "便利?" (benri-da) is inflected, in in this case into the form "?" (na).
REMEMBER: 形容動詞 need to inflect into the form "?" when used as attributes. The ? is the 連体形 (rentaikei) form, which is always used for attributes.
So, in different grammatical situations 形容詞 and 形容動詞 both behave differently, and you have to learn which of the two groups an "adjective" belongs to.
A general rule of thumb is available: adjectives ending in -ai, -ii, -ui, -oi are usually 形容詞, those ending differently, mostly are 形容動詞.
Confusion
People initially often get confused between the two when they don't know the difference and see this:
- 花?美????. (Hana wa utukushii desu). The flower is beautiful.
- 今日?暖???. (Kyou wa atataka desu). Today it is warm.
Here 形容詞 (sentence 1) and 形容動詞 (sentence 2) both seem to behave identically, using the common "X wa Y desu" structure. The difference is that in sentence 2 the "??" is obligatory, whereas in sentence 1 it can be left away (and was added for extra politeness, and in this case, deliberate confusion).
The difference is clear again in the past though:
- 花?美??????. (Hana wa utukushikatta desu) The flower was beautiful.
- 昨日?暖????. (Kinou wa atataka deshita) Yesterday it was warm.
In sentence 1 the past is expressed through the inflection of the 形容動詞, while the "??" (desu) is merely added for politness and not affected by the tense change.
Because the plain form of 形容詞 always end in "-i" they are sometimes often called i-adjectives, whereas 形容動詞, which take ? (na) when used attributively, are called na-adjectives.
Some examples:
形容詞:adjective
- 新しい (atarashii) new
- 古い (furui) old
- 高い (takai) high / expensive
- 低い (hikui) low
- 安い (yasui) cheap
- 面白い (omoshiroi) interesting
- 易しい (yasashii) easy
- 難しい (muzukashii)difficult
Colours: (色)
- 赤い (akai) red
- 白い (shiroi) white
- 黒い (kuroi) black
- 青い (aoi) blue
- 真っ白い (masshiroi) sparkling white
- 真っ黒い (makkuroi) inky blak
形容動詞:adjectival(or quasi-adjective)
- 綺麗だ (kirei da) beautiful, pretty
- 穏かだ (odayaka da) calm
- 静だ (shizuka da) calm, quiet
- 親切だ (shinsetsu da) friendly
- 元気だ (genki da) healthy
- 上手だ (jouzu da) skilled
- 下手だ (heta da) unskillfull, clumsy
- 有名だ (yuumei da) famous
- 大事だ (daiji da) important
Colours: (色)
- 真�?�赤�?� (makkada) clear red
- 真�?�白�?� (masshiroda) sparkling white
- 真�?�黒�?� (makkuroda) inky black
- 真�?��?��?� (massaoda) deep blue
the words used in both way(形容詞,形容動詞)
暖�?�-
暖�?��?� (atatakai) warm (形容詞)
暖�?��?� (atataka da) warm (形容動詞)
Note: 大�??�?� (ookii) big and �?�?��?� (chiisai) small can be used in both ways, but the ways are limited.
大�??�?�熊(big bear)-(形容詞�?��?定用法:Attributive use of Adjective),
大�??�?�熊(big bear)-(形容動詞�?��?定用法:Attributive use of Adjectival),
熊�?�大�??�?�(the bear is big.)-(形容詞�?��?�述用法:predicative use of Adjective) are acceptable.
but the both words cannot be used in (形容動詞�?��?�述用法:predicative use of Adjecvival).
>> Languages >> Japanese >> Japanese grammar
