Which おそい is used correctly?
a. おそい 四月に にほんに いきました。
b. この バスは おそい。
c. これは 一番（いちばん） おそい ファッションだ。
d. これは おそい おじいさん です。
The correct answer is b. which means “This bus is slow.”
おそい is the opposite of はやい in Japanese. はやい can be written 早い or 速い. 早い means “early” and 速い means “fast,” so the meaning of おそい is “late” and/or “slow” and the word おそい, especially when it’s used for “late,” is seldom used in front of a noun which the おそい is modifying.
The above dummy sentences are translation of the following English sentences using おそい for “late.”
a. I went to Japan in late April.
c. This is the latest fashion,
d. This is my late grandfather.
As I said earlier, おそい for “late” is seldom used in front of the noun which it is modifying, so “late April” in Japanese should be 四月下旬（しがつげじゅん）, not おそい四月. Similarly, “late night” should be よる おそく, etc., not おそい よる.
The “late” in the English sentences c and d has different meanings from “late” as opposed to “early.” It is used for “new” in c and for “deceased” in d, so their Japanese version should be:
c. これが 最新（さいしん）の ファッション です。
d. これは しんだ おじいさん です。
Of course, if we are looking at purely Japanese sentences, おそい in c and d can be interpreted as “slow” but “slow fashion” (c) does not make sense and “a slow old man” (d) should be rephrased as うごきが おそい おじいさん (= an old man with slow movement) and even then it doesn’t sound that nice.
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