Common い Adjectives

atarashii new furui old

新しい 古い
atatakai warm suzushii cool
暖かい 涼しい
atsui hot samui cold
暑い 寒い
oishii delicious mazui bad tasting
おいしい まずい
ookii big chiisai small
大きい 小さい
osoi late, slow hayai early, quick
遅い 早い
omoshiroi interesting, funny tsumaranai boring
面白い つまらない
kurai dark akarui bright
暗い 明るい
chikai near tooi far
近い 遠い
nagai long mijikai short
長い 短い
muzukashii difficult yasashii easy
難しい 優しい relaxed / kind
ii good warui bad
いい 悪い
takai tall, expensive hikui low
高い 低い
yasui cheap wakai young
安い 若い
Kawai cute Kakoi handsome
かわい かこい
isogashii busy urusai noisy
忙しい うるさい

Common な Adjectives
Ijiwaru na mean Shinsetsu na kind
意地悪な 親切な
Kirai na Don’t like Suki na like
嫌いな 好きな
Shizuka na quiet Nigiyaka na Lively
静かな にぎやかな (place)
Kiken na dangerous Anzen na Safe
危険な 安全な
Benri na convenient Fuben na inconvenient
便利な 不便な
Jouzu na Skilful Yuumei na famous
上手な Good at something 有名な

Teinei na polite Shoujiki na honest

丁寧な 正直な
Ganko na stubborn Hade na showy
頑固な 派手な

Kirei na pretty Genki na healthy, well

きれいな 元気な
 　い　Adjectives as Predicates
As mentioned on the previous page, adjectives can function like verbs. Therefore,
they conjugate just like verbs (but probably much more simply).

Informal Present Negative Replace the final ~ i with ~ ku nai

Past Replace the final ~ i with ~ katta
Past Negative Replace the final ~ i with ~ ku nakatta
Formal Add ~desu to all of the informal forms.
There is also a variation in the formal negative forms.
* Negative: Replace ~i with ~ku arimasen
* Past Negative: Add ~ deshita to ~ku arimasen
These negative forms are considered slightly more polite than
others.

Here is how the adjective "takai (expensive)" is conjugated.

Formal
Present takai desu
高いです
Present Negative takaku nai desu
高くないです
takaku arimasen
高くありません
Past takakatta desu
高かったです
Past Negative takaku nakatta desu
高くなかったです
takaku arimasen deshita
高くありませんでした

There is only one exception to the rule of i-adjectives, which is "ii (good)". "Ii"
derives from "yoi," and its conjugation is mostly based on "yoi".
 Formal
Present ii desu
いいです
Present Negative yoku nai desu
良くないです
yoku arimasen
良くありません
Past yokatta desu
良かったです
Past negative yoku nakatta desu
良くなかったです
yoku arimasen deshita
良くありませんでした

Na-Adjectives as Predicates

They are called na-adjectives because "~ na" marks this group of adjectives when
directly modifying noun (e.g. yuumeina hito). Unlike i-adjectives, na-adjectives
cannot be used as predicates themselves. When a na-adjective is used as a
predicate, the final "na" is deleted and followed by either "~ da" or "~ desu (in
formal speech)". As with nouns, "~ da" or "~ desu" changes its form to express
the past tense, the negative, and the affirmative.

Formal
Present yuumei desu
有名です
Present Negative yuumei dewa arimasen
有名ではありません
Past yuumei deshita
有名でした
Past negative yuumei dewa
arimasen deshita
有名ではありませんでした

Modifying Nouns
When used as modifiers of nouns, both i-adjectives and na-adjectives take the basic form,
and precede nouns just like in English.
I-Adjectives chiisai inu small dog
小さい犬
takai tokei expensive watch
高い時計
Na-Adjectives yuumeina gaka famous painter
有名な画家
sukina eiga favorite movie
好きな映画

Connecting Adjectives

しんせつで　きれい　です　　　　　 kind and pretty　

おもしろくて　いい　です　　 interesting and good

あたたかくて　おいしい　です warm and delicious

大きくて　おそい　です big and slow

ていねいで　しょうじき　です polite and honest