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Adjectives and comparison – Japanese N5 grammar

い and な adjectives, 〜くないです, 〜より, いちばん – seven points on adjective inflection and on comparing things.

い形容詞 · an adjective ending in い

an inflecting adjective, ending in い

It inflects on its own, without help from です — and です is added purely for politeness and carries no tense. Before a noun it stands with no extra ending at all.

い-adjective + noun; as a predicate: adjective + です

Examples

  • この本ほんはおもしろいです。This book is interesting.です does not inflect the adjective, it only raises the register.
  • 新あたらしいかばんを買かいました。I bought a new bag.Before a noun the adjective does not change its shape.

な形容詞 · an adjective that requires な

an adjective that adds な before a noun

It behaves more like a noun than like an adjective. Before the word it modifies it has to insert な, and as a predicate it inflects through です, exactly as a noun does.

adjective + な + noun; as a predicate: adjective + です

Examples

  • ここは静しずかな町まちです。This is a quiet town.Without な the sentence would be ungrammatical.
  • 彼女かのじょは親切しんせつな人ひとです。She is a kind person.The same pattern: modifier + な + the noun modified.

〜くないです · is not so

negating a quality described by an i-adjective

The negation inflects the adjective itself, not です. The final い drops out and くない comes in — which is why いいです does not give いくないです but よくないです.

adjective without い + くないです

Examples

  • この店みせは高たかくないです。This shop is not expensive.高い → 高くない. です stays unchanged.
  • 今日きょうはあまり寒さむくないです。It is not particularly cold today.あまり forms a fixed pattern with negation — see あまり〜ない in group 7.
  • この本ほんは高たかく無ないです。This book is not expensive.無い is read ない. 高く無い negates a high price, just like 高くない. The course default for this ending is くないです.

〜かったです · was so

a quality placed in the past

The past tense is likewise written into the adjective itself. A common mistake is おもしろいでした — です does not turn into でした when an い-adjective is inflected.

adjective without い + かったです

Examples

  • 昨日きのうの試験しけんはむずかしかったです。Yesterday’s exam was difficult.むずかしい → むずかしかった, not むずかしいでした.
  • 旅行りょこうはとても楽たのしかったです。The trip was very enjoyable.The same inflection pattern.

〜くなる · becomes so

a shift into a new state, with no one named as its cause

Describes a passage from one state into another. It does not settle whether the change happened by itself or whether someone or something brought it about — it simply does not say who or what did it, and a cause may well exist. With な-adjectives and with nouns, に comes in instead of く.

い-adjective without い + くなる; な-adjective + になる

Examples

  • 春はるになって、暖あたたかくなりました。Spring came and it turned warm.A change of season is hard to attribute to anyone — but the form くなる itself does not settle that.
  • 日本語にほんごが少すこしずつ易やさしくなりました。Japanese gradually became easier for me.少しずつ marks a gradual change. Japanese became easier from the learner’s perspective; the language itself need not have changed.
  • 最近さいきん、寒さむく成なりました。It has become cold recently.成る is read なる. Here, く成る expresses the same change in a quality as くなる: it has become cold. The course default is くなる.

〜より · than…, more than…

marking which of two things comes out higher

Sets exactly two things side by side. より stands next to the one being compared against — the one with less of the quality — just like English “than”, only after the noun rather than before it: バスより速い = “faster than the bus”.

A は B より + adjective

Examples

  • 電車でんしゃはバスより速はやいです。The train is faster than the bus.より stands next to the bus, that is, next to the slower one.
  • 今日きょうは昨日きのうより暑あついです。It is hotter today than yesterday.Two moments in time can be compared as well.
  • このかばんはあのかばんより軽かるいです。This bag is lighter than that one.より marks the reference point: I compare the weight of two bags.

いちばん · the most…, the best of…

the superlative within a comparison group

Japanese marks the superlative with いちばん before an adjective. The comparison group can be marked by で or の中で, or left implicit in the context.

(set + で / の中で +) いちばん + adjective

Examples

  • クラスでいちばん背せが高たかいです。He is the tallest in the class.The class is the set the comparison is drawn within.
  • 四季しきの中なかで秋あきがいちばん好すきです。Of all the seasons I like autumn best.With a countable set の中で is the more natural choice.
  • この店みせは駅えきの近ちかくでいちばん安やすいですから、ここで買かいます。This shop is the cheapest near the station, so I will buy here.いちばん marks the lowest price among the shops in the stated area here.
  • 四季しきの中なかで秋あきがいちばん好すきですから、毎年まいとし秋あきに旅行りょこうします。Of the four seasons, I like autumn best, so I travel every autumn.いちばん marks the speaker’s favorite of the four seasons here.
  • この店みせが一番いちばん安やすいです。This shop is the cheapest.一番 is read いちばん. Before an adjective it marks the highest degree within the compared group, here the lowest price.

Where this comes from

Everything above comes from the free part of the Kaname app and has passed its content review.

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