Conjugation #3: How to Conjugate Adjectives
As we mentioned in the last Conjugation lesson, there are two main types of adjectives in
Japanese: i-adjectives, and na-adjectives. The largest difference between the two is in the
way they conjugate; that is, how the endings change when there is a change in tense,
whether the meaning is affirmative/negative, etc.
In Conjugation Lesson 2, you learned the prenominal usage of these adjectives (how they
are used before nouns). In this lesson, we'll be focusing on the predicate usage, or how we
use them at the end of a sentence.
I-adjectives
When we conjugate i-adjectives, we take away the "i" endings and replace them with the
endings in the chart below. However, the present affimative form ("is ---") does not change in
any way.
Informal:
(no change)
-くない
-かった
-くなかった
(no change)
-ku nai
-katta
-ku nakatta
Present Affirmative ("is ---")
Present Negative ("isn't ---")
Past Affirmative ("was ---")
Past Negative ("wasn't ---")
-desu
-ku nai desu
-ku arimasen
Present Affirmative ("is ---")
Non-past Negative ("isn't ---")
Formal:
-です
-くないです
-くありません
-かったです
-くなかったです
-くありませんでした
-katta desu
Past Affirmative ("was ---")
-ku nakatta desu Past Negative ("wasn't ---")
-ku arimasen
deshita
Examples
For all of our i-adjective examples, we'll use the word atsui (あつい), meaning "hot."
Informal:
あつい
あつくない
あつかった
あつくなかった
atsui
atsuku nai
atsukatta
atsuku nakatta
"is hot"
"isn't hot"
"was hot"
"wasn't hot"
Formal:
あついです
あつくないです
あつくありません
あつかったです
あつくなかったです
あつくありませんでし
た
atsui desu
atsuku nai desu
atsuku arimasen
"is hot"
"isn't hot"
atsukatta desu
atsuku nakatta desu
atsuku arimasen
deshita
"was hot"
"wasn't hot"
*Note: The adjective ii (いい), meaning "good," is the colloquial form of yoi (よい) and
conjugates irregularly.
いい
よくない
よかった
よくなかった
ii
yokunai
yokatta
yokunakatta
"is good"
"isn't good"
"was good"
"wasn't good"
Na-adjectives
When we conjugate na-adjectives, we attach the following endings to the dictionary form.
Note that nothing is added to the present affimative form ("is ---").
Informal:
(no change)
(no change)
-じゃない
（ではない）
-だった
-ja nai
(dewa nai)
-じゃなかった
(ではなかった)
-ja nakatta
(dewa nakatta)
-datta
Present Affirmative
("is ---")
Present Negative
("isn't ---")
Past Affirmative
("was ---")
Past Negative
("wasn't ---")
Formal:
-desu
-です
-じゃないです
(ではないです)
-ja nai desu
(dewa nai desu)
-じゃありません
(ではありません)
-でした
-ja arimasen
(dewa arimasen)
-じゃなかったです
(ではなかったです)
-ja nakatta desu
(dewa nakatta desu)
-deshita
Non-past Affirmative ("is
---")
Non-past Negative
("isn't ---")
Past Affirmative
("was ---")
Past Negative
("wasn't ---")
-じゃありませんでした -ja arimasen deshita
(dewa arimasen
(ではありませんでし
deshita)
た）
Examples
For all of our na-adjective examples, we'll use the word shizuka (しずか), meaning "quiet."
Informal:
しずか
しずかじゃない
しずかだった
しずかじゃなかった
shizuka
shizuka ja nai
shizuka datta
shizuka ja nakatta
"is quiet"
"isn't quiet"
"was quiet"
"wasn't quiet"
shizuka desu
shizuka ja nai desu
shizuka ja arimasen
"is quiet"
"isn't quiet"
Formal:
しずかです
しずかじゃないです
しずかじゃありません
しずかでした
しずかじゃなかったで
す
しずかじゃありません
でした
shizuka deshita
"was quiet"
shizuka ja nakatta desu "wasn't quiet"
shizuka ja arimasen
deshita
The Te-Form of Adjectives
When you combine two or more adjectives, all adjectives but the last one must be put into
the te-form. Let's learn how to form the te-form of adjectives.
To make the te-form of i-adjectives, we take away the "i" ending and replace it with -kute.
Dictionary Form (---i)
atsui (あつい)
*ii (いい)
Te-Form (---kute)
atsukute (あつくて)
*yokute (よくて)
To make the te-form of na-adjectives, we add de to the dictionary form.
Dictionary Form
shizuka (しずか)
Te-Form (dictionary form plus +
de)
shizuka de (しずかで)