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.
  だいじょうぶです
  It is all right.

~ではありません is the present negative form.
  だいじょうぶではありません
  It is not all right.

~でした is the past positive form.
  だいじょうぶでした
  It was all right.

~ではありませんでした is the past negative form.
  だいじょうぶではありませんでした
  It was not all right.

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.
  かんたんだ
  It is easy.

~ではない is the present negative form.
  かんたんではない
  It is not easy.

~だった is the past positive form.
  かんたんだった
  It was easy.

~ではなかった is the past negative form.
  かんたんではなかった
  It was not easy.

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.
  いいです
  It is good.

~ありません is the present negative form.
いい - い + くありません
  よくありません
  It is not good.

~かったです is the past positive form.
いい - い + かったです
  よくかったです
  It was good.

~ありませんでした is the past negative form.
いい - い + くありませんでした
  よくありませんでした
  It was not good.

~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?"
   いいでしょう　
   It's good, 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.
  むずかしい
  It is difficult.

~ない is the present negative form.
むずかしい - い + くない
  むずかしくない
  It is not difficult.

~だった is the past positive form.
むずかしい - い + かった
  むずかしかった
  It was difficult.

~なかった is the past negative form.
むずかしい - い + くなかった
  むずかしくなかった
  It was not difficult.