An Introduction to i-Adjectives in Japanese for Beginners
Welcome to our third video and article series with tutor Naomi. In this live-stream, Naomi explains briefly how to use i-adjectives in their normal, negative and polite forms.
I-adjectives are called that way because they always end on an “i” when placed before the noun they are modifying. First, let’s take a look at two i-adjectives that are used quite frequently.
暑い
Hot
寒い
Cold
To convert i-adjectives into their polite forms, simply add “です” at the end:
暑いです寒いです
“です” can only be added when the adjective is placed at the end of the sentence, not when it is used to modify a noun. If you want to make a polite sentence with an i-adjective as a noun modifier, you can put “です” after the modified noun. E.g.:
I-adjective as a noun modifier (polite):
今日は暑い天気です。
The weather is hot today.
I-adjective at the end of a sentence (polite)今日は暑いです。
It’s hot today.
If you would like to talk about your own sensation of the weather, you can simply add “わたしは” before the adjective, but it may send more natural not to:
わたしは暑いです。
I feel hot.
わたしは寒いです。
I feel cold.
If you are talking to a friend, these are more natural ways to express your sensation of the weather:
今日暑いね！
It’s hot today!
最近けっこう寒いね。
It’s quite cold recently.
今日暑くない？
Isn’t it hot today?
寒いのはもう嫌だ！
I’m done with the cold!
Now, to express the negative of an i-adjective, you replace the “い” at the end with “くない”:
暑くない
Not hot
寒くない
Not cold
Again, if your adjective is at the end of the sentence you can add “です” to make your sentence polite. If you use the adjective to modify a noun, again, please add “です” after the noun.
I-adjective as a noun modifier (polite, negative):
今日は寒くない日です。
Today is not a cold day.
I-adjective at the end of a sentence (polite, negative):
今日は寒くないです。
Today is not cold.
Here are a few more example sentences from Naomi’s stream:
これから寒くなりますね。
It’s going to get colder from now on.
京都は今日も寒いです。
It is cold in Kyoto today as well.
昼は暑いです。
It is hot at noon.
今は暑くないです。
It’s not hot right now.
That’s it for today. If you have any questions, you can always clear them up by booking a lesson with one of our native Japanese tutors. See you next time!
