Quick-How-To Japanese Adjective Conjugation

This is a companion page to the Quick-How-To for Japanese verb conjugation.
This is a compilation of information from many places.
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Japanese Adjective Conjugation

Go here for the Quick Japanese Verb how-to

There are two types of adjectives in Japanese: i-adjectives and na-adjectives.
I-adjectives all end in ~ i, although they never end in ~ ei (for example, kirei is not an i-adjective.)

Although Japanese adjectives have functions to modify nouns like English adjectives, they also function as verbs when used as predicates.
When i-adjectives are used as predicates, they may be followed by ~ desu to indicate a formal style.

Here are lists of common i-adjectives and na-adjectives.

Common I-Adjectives

akarui	bright	nagai	long
akai	red	oishii	delicious
atarashii	new	omai	sweet
		ooi	many
atatakai	warm	osoi	late, slow
atsui	hot	ookii	big
		omoi	heavy
chikai	near	omoshiroi	interesting, funny
chiisai	small	samui	cold
furui	old	semai	small (area)
hayai	early, quick	shinsetsu	kind
hikui	low	shirui	white
hiroi	spacious	sukanai	few
ii	good	suzushii	cool
isogashii	busy	tooi	far
kibishi	strict	takai	tall, expensive
kitanai	dirty	tsumaranai	boring
		tsuyoi	strong
karui	light	umaranai	boring
kumori	cloudy	warui	bad
kurai	dark	wakai	young
mijikai	short	urusai	noisy
mazui	bad tasting	utsui	thin
mushiatsui	humid	yasashii	easy
		yasui	cheap
muzukashii	difficult	yowai	weak

Common Na-Adjectives

adayakana	calm
anzenna	safe	kikenna	dangerous
benrina	convenient	kiraina	distasteful
chisaina	small	kireina	pretty
		nigiyakana	lively
daikiraina	hated	shinsetsuna	kind
daitsukina	most favorite	shinkenna	serious
fubenna	inconvenient	shizukana	quiet
genkina	healthy, well	shoujikina	honest
gankona	stubborn	sumaatona	slender
hadena	showy	sukina	favorite
himana	free (time)	taihenna	awful
henna	strange	taimenna	lazy
ijiwaruna	mean	teineina	polite
jouzuna	skillful	yuumeina	famous

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
I-Adjectives	takai tokei	expensive watch
Na-Adjectives	yuumeina gaka	famous painter
Na-Adjectives	sukina eiga	favorite movie

I-Adjectives as Predicates

Adjectives can function like verbs and conjugate just like verbs.

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.

Example- conjugation of takai

	Informal	Formal
Present	takai	takai desu
Present Negative	takaku nai	takaku nai desu takaku arimasen
Past	takakatta	takakatta desu
Past Negative	takaku nakatta	takaku nakatta desu takaku arimasen deshita

Exception

The adjactive "ii" (means good) is only one exception to the rule of i-adjectives. It derives from yoi, so its conjugation is mostly based on that of yoi.

	Informal	Formal
Present	ii	ii desu
Present Negative	yoku nai	yoku nai desu yoku arimasen
Past	yokatta	yokatta desu
Past negative	yoku nakatta	yoku nakatta desu yoku arimasen deshita

Na-Adjectives as Predicates

These are called na-adjectives because ~na marks this group of adjectives when they directly modify nouns (e.g. yuumeina gaka). Unlike the i-adjectives, na-adjectives cannot be used as predicates without alteration; when a na-adjective is used as a predicate, the final ~na is deleted and replaced by ~ da (or ~ desu for formal speech).
Just as with nouns, ~ da or ~ desu change form to express the past tense, the negative, and the affirmative.

	Informal	Formal
Present	yuumei da	yuumei desu
Present Negative	yuumei dewa nai	yuumei dewa arimasen
Past	yuumei datta	yuumei deshita
Past negative	yuumei dewa nakatta	yuumei dewa arimasen deshita

General Rules

i-Adjectives
Non-Past			Past
Plain (dict)	Polite		Plain	Polite
root + i	root + i + de tsu	+	root + haata	root + haata detsu
root + < na i	root + < na i de tsu root+ < arimasen	-	root + < na i kata	root + < arimasendeshita
TE= root +< de

na-Adjectives
Non-Past			Past
Plain (dict)	Polite		Plain	Polite
dict + da	dict + de tsu	+	dict + daa ta	dict + de shita
dict + de wa na ii	root + de ariimasen root + ja arimasen	-	dict + de wa naikaata dict + janai kaata	dict + dewa arimasendeshita dict + ja arimasende shita
TE= root + de

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