All About Adjectives Part 2: The Use of Adjectives

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 小さい犬	small dog
	takai tokei 高い時計	expensive watch
Na-Adjectives	yuumeina gaka 有名な画家	famous painter
	sukina eiga 好きな映画	favorite movie

I-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.

	Informal	Formal
Present	takai 高い	takai desu 高いです
Present Negative	takaku nai 高くない	takaku nai desu 高くないです takaku arimasen 高くありません
Past	takakatta 高かった	takakatta desu 高かったです
Past Negative	takaku nakatta 高くなかった	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".

	Informal	Formal
Present	ii いい	ii desu いいです
Present Negative	yoku nai 良くない	yoku nai desu 良くないです yoku arimasen 良くありません
Past	yokatta 良かった	yokatta desu 良かったです
Past negative	yoku nakatta 良くなかった	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 gaka). 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.

	Informal	Formal
Present	yuumei da 有名だ	yuumei desu 有名です
Present Negative	yuumei dewa nai 有名ではない	yuumei dewa arimasen 有名ではありません
Past	yuumei datta 有名だった	yuumei deshita 有名でした
Past negative	yuumei dewa nakatta 有名ではなかった	yuumei dewa arimasen deshita 有名ではありませんでした