How to use adjectives in Japanese

learn now to how to use adjectives in japanese!

According to japanese grammar, Japanese adjectives can be used in many different ways, however the most common usage forms are before and after nouns.

How to use adjectives in Japanese

Hover your mouse cursor over Japanese symbols to see their pronunciation and meaning.

Japanese adjectives before nouns

Grammatically, adjectives in Japanese appear before the nouns they refer to. Let's look at the examples below.

それは青い本ですか？

それは青かった本です。

それは青くない本です。

それは変な食べ物です。

それは変な食べ物でした。

それは変な食べ物ではありません。

As we've studied before, the Japanese adjectives な do not flex. The indication of the verb tense belongs to the verb that is at the end of the sentence. In the case of Japanese adjectives い, they flex and change the tense of the sentence even with the verb unchanged.

Japanese adjectives after noun

In this case, the rules do not change for Japanese adjectives ending in い, but for the adjectives な, things change a little. Using adjectives after the noun means we're going to create sentences in the pattern noun + wa + adjective + verb.

試験はむずかしいです。

試験はむずかしかった。

試験はむじかしくない。

Note that the adjectives いi do not require the verb to give meaning to the sentence, since they are inflected. The same fact does not occur with the adjectives な, which require the verb at the end of sentences.

試験は大変です。

試験は大変でした。

試験は大変ではありませんでした。

like Japanese adjectives な they don't inflect, they need the verb to make sense of the sentence. If there was no verb, it would be impossible to determine the tense of the sentence.

concluding

His goal was to show the most common way to use adjectives in Japanese. In case of doubts or suggestions, please feel free to get in touch. OK?

Kanji calligraphy exercise

Below are the Japanese ideographic symbols used in this article. Selecting the desired kanji, copy and paste them into Worksheet for Kana and Kanji Practice , a new window will open where you can view the printable file and practice Japanese calligraphy by covering the gray symbols and then trying to write yourself. Just print and practice.