Complete Japanese Adjective Guide. Ann Tarumoto
BY
Ann Tarumoto
Tuttle Publishing
Boston • Rutland, Vermont • Tokyo
First published in 2001 by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd., with editorial offices at 364 Innovation Drive, North Clarendon, VT 05759 U.S.A.
Copyright © 2001 Ann Tarumoto
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from Tuttle Publishing.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tarumoto, Ann.
The complete Japanese adjective guide / by Ann Tarumoto.-1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-8048-3276-5 (pbk.); ISBN 978-1-4629-1754-9 (ebook)
1. Japanese language-Adjective. I. Title.
| PL577 .T36 2001 | |
| 495.6’80421-dc21 | 00-060782 |
Distributed by
North America, Latin America & Europe
Tuttle Publishing
Airport Industrial Park
364 Innovation Drive
North Clarendon, VT 05759-9436
Tel: (802) 773-8930
Fax: (802) 773-6993
Asia Pacific
Berkeley Books Pte Ltd.
61 Tai Seng Avenue, #02-12
Singapore 534167
Tel: (65) 6280-1330
Fax: (65) 6280-6290
Japan & Korea
Tuttle Publishing
Yaekari Building, 3rd Floor
5-4-12 Osaki, Shinagawa-ku
Tokyo 141-0032
Tel: (03) 5437 0171
Fax:(03) 5437 0755
07 06 05 04 03 02
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Printed in Singapore
Contents
| Part I | Adjectives |
| 1. | Adjectives |
| 2. | Adjectives Modifying Nouns |
| 3. | When Adjectives are Used in the Predicate |
| Non-past | |
| Negative non-past | |
| Negative non-past (plain form) | |
| Past affirmative | |
| Past negative | |
| Past negative (plan form) | |
| 4. | Zenzen, Tokidoki and Other Adverbs |
| 5. | Other Adjectives |
| 6. | The Goldilocks Level and the Negative |
| 7. | Deshoo and Deshoo? |
| 8. | Straddling the Fence (particle wa with negatives) |
| 9. | Soo desu |
| 10. | The -ku Form of the Adjective. |
| 11. | Linking Adjectives |
| 12. | The -te Form of Negative Adjectives. |
| 13. | Two or More Adjectives Describing a Noun. |
| 14. | Permission |
| 15. | -kute wa ikemasen. |
| 16. | The -ba Form |
| 17. | The Negative -ba Form. |
| 18. | -Soo Not Soo |
| 19. | “I think that” |
| 20. | Hoshii! |
| 21. | Color Words |
| 22. | Another Pattern with Colors |
| 23. | The -sa Form |
| 24. | The -tari -tari Form |
| 25. | Sugimasu—“It’s too” |
| 26. | Other Expressions Using Adjectives |
| 27. | Ooi and Sukunai |
| 28. | “It’s better if it’s” |
| 29. | Tooi and Chikai |
| Part II | na Adjectives |
| 1. | The na Adjective |
| 2. | The na Adjective in the Predicate. |
| Non-past affirmative | |
| Non-past negative | |
| Affirmative past | |
| Affirmative negative | |
| 3. | Goldilocks and the na Adjective |
| 4. | Review of Basic Inflections |
| 5. | na Adjectives When They Describe a Noun |
| 6. | Suki/Kirai, Joozu/Heta |
| 7. | The na Adjective as Adverb |
| 8. | Linking na Adjectives |
| 9. | The Negative -te Form of na Adjectives |
| 10. | Linking na Adjectives When Describing a Noun |
| 11. | Permission and Prohibition with na Adjectives |
| 12. | “Even if” |
| 13. | The -ba Form of na Adjectives |
| 14. | “It has to be” |
| 15. | Soo Desu with na Adjectives |
| 16. | -Soo not Soo |
| 17. | The -tari Form with na Adjectives |
| 18. | The na adjective and Sugimasu |
| 19. | To Omoimasu |
| 20. | Ookii and Chiisai |
| 21. | Hoo ga ii with na Adjectives |
| 22. | The Prettier the Better |
| Glossary of Nouns | Japanese - English |
| English - Japanese | |
| Answer Key |
For my parents,
Joe and Kay Imai
Introductory Notes
Keep these two points in mind as you work in this book:
| 1. | Always VOCALIZE as you do the exercises. This book is written in Romanized Japanese (romaji) to help facilitate visual and oral/aural understanding of the patterns. These exercises were designed to increase your familiarity with certain basic adjectives so that you will find yourself being able to say them quickly and without stumbling. Hearing yourself say the correct response will rapidly increase your aural comprehension of Japanese. |
| 2. | Do all the exercises (and complete each exercise. Even if you you thoroughly understand an inflection or pattern, it is imperative that you start from the beginning of the book and do each lesson. The only way you will be able to reproduce these patterns in real life conversation is to overlearn them. |
GAMBARE!
Part I
Adjectives
1. Adjectives
An adjective is a describing word. To qualify as an adjective in Japanese, a word must end in one of the following sounds: ai, oi, ui, ii. In Japanese, a word that does not end in one of these sounds is not an adjective and therefore cannot be treated as an adjective, even if it is a describing word.
Memorize this list of adjectives for the exercises to follow.
| ii (inflected from yoi) | good |
| warui | bad |
| takai | expensive, high, tall (in position) |
| yasui | inexpensive |
| chikai | near |
| tooi | far |
|
atsui
|