Conjugating Adjectives

Unlike English, Japanese conjugates adjectives. Japanese congujation also mirrors the society's class driven structure. If someone is above or below you in station (or life), you speak to them using different verb forms.

Adjectives are separated into 2 categories, いadjectives and なadjectives

いadjectives are typically defined as "Any adjective that ends with the character 'い'." This is not entirely true, though. The word must end with the character "い" but it must also be prounced "ee" (i.e. かわいい, さむい).

If you've learned about the syllabaries, then you know that an い that follows an え is pronounced え (i.e. ゆうめい, きれい; These are なadjectives).

なadjectives are any adjective that is NOT an い adjective (i.e. しずか, げんき).

な Adjectives

Formal Forms

If someone is your boss, a year (or more) older, been at a job longer, or you just wanna be polite, you speak to them using the polite (also called formal) form.

	Positive	Negative
Present	~です	~ではありません
Past	~でした	~ではありませんでした

~です form is the present positive form.
  しずかです
  It is quiet.

~ではありません is the present negative form.
  しずかではありません
  It is not quiet.

~でした is the past positive form.
  しずかでした
  It was quite.

~ではありませんでした is the past negative form.
  しずかではありませんでした
  It was not quite.

Informal Forms

The Informal Forms are for addressing people close to you, like friends, or people below you in station, like a work subordinate. These forms consist of ~だ, ~ではない, ~だった, ~ではなかった

	Positive	Negative
Present	~だ	~ではない
Past	~だった	~ではなかった

~だ form is the present positive form.
  しずかだ
  It is quiet.

~ではない is the present negative form.
  しずかではない
  It is not quiet.

~だった is the past positive form.
  しずかだった
  It was quiet.

~ではなかった is the past negative form.
  しずかではなかった
  It was not quiet.

い Adjectives

Formal Forms

If someone is your boss, a year (or more) older, been at a job longer, or you just wanna be polite, you speak to them using the polite (also called formal) form.

	Positive	Negative
Present	~です	~ありません
Past	~かったです	~ありませんでした

~です form is the present positive form.
  さむいです
  It is quiet.

~ありません is the present negative form.
さむい - い + くありません
  さむくありません
  It is not quiet.

~かったです is the past positive form.
さむい - い + かったです
  さむかったです
  It was quite.

~ありませんでした is the past negative form.
さむい - い + くありませんでした
  さむくありませんでした
  It was not quite.

~です has 1 other form: "~ isn't it?"

 です - す + しょう = でしょう
 ~でしょう means "~ isn't it?"
   さむいでしょう　
   It's quiet, isn't it?.

Informal Forms

The Informal Forms are for addressing people close to you, like friends, or people below you in station, like a work subordinate. These forms consist of Plain, ~ない, ~かった, ~なかった

	Positive	Negative
Present	~Plain	~ない
Past	~かった	~なかった

Plain form is the present positive form.
  さむい
  It is quiet.

~ない is the present negative form.
さむい - い + くない
  さむくない
  It is not quiet.

~だった is the past positive form.
さむい - い + かった
  さむかった
  It was quiet.

~ではなかった is the past negative form.
さむい - い + くなかった
  さむくなかった
  It was not quiet.