This lesson is about adjectives. There are two types of adjectives in Japanese. These are 'i' adjectives and 'na' adjectives. 'I' adjectives have an extra 'i' at the end which can be used to modify their form. Na adjectives usually do not have the 'i' ending and must be followed by na if they come in front of a noun. Na adjectives have a different way of being modified. It is also possible to make adjectives out of other nouns as in English.

This lesson will introduce the 'i' adjective.

Examples of i adjectives:

furui
atarashii

ookii
chiisai

akai
aoi
kuroi
shiroi

old
new

big
small

red
blue
black
white

Notice that all the adjectives above end in i.

I adjectives can be used like adjectives in English. They come before the noun they modify.

Examples:

furui kuruma
aoi hon
chiisai neko

old car
blue book
small cat

I adjectives can also be used in the 'X desu' and 'X wa Y desu' patterns. Recall that Hon desu. means It's a book. and Watashi wa John desu. means I am John. Similarly, you can use the following pattern with i adjectives:

adjective desu :=: it's adjective
noun wa adjective desu :=: noun is adjective

Examples:

Aoi desu.
Ookii desu.

It's blue.
It's big.

Lesson 14 Vocabulary:

furui
atarashii
ookii
chiisai
akai
aoi
kuroi
shiroi

kasa
denwa