This lesson is a continuation of Lesson 14. Recall that Lesson 14 dealt with 'i' adjectives.

First, we need to start off with a bit about one of the differences between English and Japanese. In English adjectives usually stay in their affirmative form and 'not' is added when changing to the negative. In Japanese, however, i adjectives all have an affirmative and a negative form. Thus, 'black' and 'not black' are both adjectives.

In order to change an i adjective from affirmative to negative form, change the last i to kunai.

Example:

akai
akakunai

atarashii
atarashikunai

omoi
omokunai

karui
karukunai

red
not red

new
not new

heavy
not heavy

light (in weight)
not light (in weight)

The " noun wa adjective desu :=: noun is adjective" pattern still holds true for the negative form of adjectives.

Examples:

akakunai hon

a book that's not red

Note that the examples above are literally ' a not-red book', 'a not-heavy pencil', and 'a not-new car', but if you're going to translate it is always better to translate into proper English rather than Japanese-ized English.

Examples:

Akakunai ringo o tabetai.

I want to eat an apple that's not red.

Lesson 16 Vocabulary:

omoi
karui

-kunai

akakunai
atarashikunai
omokunai
karukunai

tsukaimasu
tsukaitai

heavy
light (in weight)

negative i adjective suffix

not red
not new
not heavy
not light (in weight)

use
want to use