I must apologize for my delay in blogging. I really have no other excuse than I've been diligently trying to create The Boots of Prowess in order to receive my 30% attack bonus that will enable me to defeat Luther. I got my ass kicked the first round, and it won't happen this time by God!
Yes, I'm still playing Star Ocean: Till the End of Time.
Anyway, work has been incredibly boring as of late, so to pass the time, I sat down and studied some Japanese today and decided to write a blog about adjectives. Sounds like fun, right? *laughs* It's just a crash course, really. I don't plan on diving into too much detail here, so don't take this as a full lesson. I'm hardly qualified to give lessons. I'm just sharing some of the stuff I've learned (which so many other people find hard to do).
There are two types of adjectives in the Japanese language. You have "i" adjectives, which all end with the vowel "i". Check it out:
Omoshiroi (面白い): interesting
Ookii (大きい): big
( "い" is the hiragana for the letter "i" )
The other type of adjective are "na" ajectives. These words end with "na" so to speak. It's good to know that foreign words used as ajectives become "na'' adjectives in Japanese. Here are some "na" adjectives:
Anzen na (安全な): safe
Shizuka na (静かな): quiet
I'm not going to talk about "na" adjectives today, though I like them the best for some reason. Today, I'm going to focus on "i" adjectives, so this should be loads of fun.
"i" Adjectives
With "i" adjectives the final "i" is always preceeded by an a, i, u, or o. Never are the preceeded by an "e". Remember this. It's important.
"i" adjectives change their forms, meaning the conjugate, depending on the tense of the sentance or if they are negitive or affermative. It can be a bit tricky at first, but it's not that hard really...most of the time. *laughs*
Present Affirmative
In this form, the i-adjective is followed by desu. Desu is used as a copula (to be) for the most part, but unlike the copula desu, the one used with i-adjectives doesn't conjugate.
いいです。
ii desu.
It's good.
高いです。
takai desu.
It's expensive.
大きいです。
ookii desu.
It's big.
あの犬は大きいです。
Ano inu wa ookii desu.
That dog (over there) is big.
When used to modify a noun, the i-adjective precedes the noun. This is the same as in the English language.
大きい犬です。
ookii inu desu.
What a big dog.
面白い映画です。
Omoshiroi eiga desu.
It's an interesting movie.
Present Negitive
To negate the present form of i-adjectives, drop the final "i" and add "ku". This is called the "KU form". Add "arimasen" to the KU form so it looks like this ~ku arimasen.
面白いです present form
omoshiroi desu.
It's interesting.
面白くありません。 past present form
Omoshiroku arimasen.
It's not interesting.
この映画は面白くありません。
Kono eiga wa omoshiroku arimasen.
Past Tense
To create the past tense of i-adjectives, replace the final "i" with "katta" and add desu. It would look something like this:
寒いです。(present tense)
Samui desu.
It's cold.
寒かったです。
Samukatta desu.
It was cold.
昨日は寒かったです。
Kinou wa samukatta desu.
It was cold yesterday.
Past Negitive
To make the past negitive form of an i-adjective, add "deshita" to the present negitive form (the KU form, remember?).
寒くありません。 (present negitive)
Samuku arimasen.
It isn't cold.
寒くありませんでした。 (past negitive)
Samuku arimasen deshita.
There are several other forms that i-adjectives take as well, but like I said, this isn't a lesson and I recommend grabbing some books and doing some studying on your own. However, I'll give a few quick examples of these "other" forms.
Te form:
寒くて
Samukute
...cold and...
部屋が寒くて眠ることができません。
Heya ga samukute nemuru koto ga dekimasen.
It's cold in my room and I can't sleep.
Adverbial:
寒く
Samuku
to become cold
朝は天気が寒くなった。
Asa wa tenki ga samuku natta.
It got cold in the morning.
Conditional:
寒ければ
Samukereba
if it's cold...
寒ければ出かけません。
Samukereba dekemasen.
If it's cold, I won't go out.
Tara Form (conditional)
寒かったら
Samukattara
if it's cold...
寒かったらバスを乗っていく。
Samukattara basu wo notte iku.
If it's cold I'll ride the bus.
Tari Form
寒かったり
Samukattari
sometimes _____ is cold and sometimes it's ________.
春は寒かったり熱かったりする。
Haru wa samukattari atsukattari suru.
The spring is sometimes cold and sometimes hot.
Noun Form
寒さ
Samusa
coldness
厳しい寒さ。
kibishii samusa
severe coldness
So, that's about all I have to say regarding "i" adjectives. I suggest picking up books or taking classes yourself for a much more in depth explaination. I'm still learning myself and make mistakes, though I do try my best to research and check the stuff I do.
Have fun and play nice, everyone! Till next time!
Posted by Zoso at October 12, 2004 06:32 PM