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Lesson 15: She's quiet.
| This lesson is a continuation of the previous lesson about adjectives. There are two types of adjectives in Japanese. Lesson 14 deals with い adjectives.いadjectives are also called 'true' adjectives. This lesson will introduce the な adjectives. な adjectives are not considered adjectives in Japanese (although in English they are in fact adjectives). This is because they are formed from nouns. い adjectives have an extra い at the end which can be used to modify their form. な adjectives usually do not have the い ending and must be followed by な if they come in front of a noun. | |
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Examples: しずか （な） |
quiet |
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The " noun は adjective
です :=: noun is adjective" pattern still holds true for な adjectives. |
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| Examples: かのじょは しずか です。 |
She's quiet. |
| ねこは げんき ですね。 | The cat is energetic isn't it? |
| このほんは かんたん です。 | This book is simple. |
| な adjectives differ from い adjectives when they come before a noun. In this case they require な to be added to the end of the word. |
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Examples: へんなほん |
strange book |
| きれいなうち | clean house |
| すてきなえんぴつ | cool pencil |
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このへんな ねこは かれの ですか。 |
Is this strange cat his? |
| このかんたんな ほんは すてき ですね。 | This simple book is nice isn't it? |
A note about the words かれ and かのじょ: Although they are the words for him and her, they are also used for the words boyfriend and girlfriend. So, if someone says 'I lived with her' and they are not referencing a specific woman they probably mean 'I lived with my girlfriend'. |
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Lesson 15 Vocabulary: |
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しずか （な） |
quiet |
すてき （な） |
cool/nice |
げんき （な） |
healthy/energetic |
かんたん （な） |
easy/brief/simple |
きれい （な） |
clean/pretty |
へん （な） |
strange |
| かのじょ | she/her/girlfriend |
| かれ | he/him/boyfriend |
| えんぴつ | pencil |