We have looked at the “[A] wa [B] desu ([A]=[B])” pattern.

While only nouns and pronouns can be used in [A], adjectives as well as nouns and pronouns can be used in [B].

And you learned a sentence: haha wa yasashii desu. Here, “ yasashii” is an adjective, meaning “nice”.

Adjectives are describing words. They are used to describe a noun. In the following pair, the bold word つめたいtsumetai/cold is the adjective and the underlined word みずmizu/water is the noun that つめたいtsumetai/cold is describing.

このkono みずmizu はwa つめたいtsumetai ですdesu。 This water is cold.
これkore はwa つめたいtsumetai みずmizu ですdesu。This is cold water.

In the above pair, the top sentence has the adjective between はwa and ですdesu (“predicative use”) and the second sentence has the adjective immediately before the noun (“attributive use”).

In Japanese, there are 2 different types of adjectives, いiadjectives and なnaadjectives and these two types behave VERY differently from each other.

いiadjectives

いiadjectives all end in the Hiragana いi (thus they are called いiadjectives). Note that when we write a Japanese word using Roomaji (English alphabet), most words end in a vowel letter, a, e, i, o or u.  Thus, there are many words that end in i such as okashi (snack food), uchi (home, inside), etc. but okashi and uchi do not count as ending in い because the letter before i is NOT a vowel and they are written as おかし and うち respectively. As you can see, they do not end in い.
If written in Roomaji, all “i” adjectives end in -ai, -ei, -ii, -oi or –ui (i.e. the Roomaji letter before the last i must be another vowel letter).

i-adjectives can be used before a noun as well as between wa and desu without having to add anything to it.

• yasashii hito (a nice person)
• haha wa yasashii desu. (my mum is nice.)

なnaadjectives

なnaadjectives are usually* made of all Katakana or Kanji characters even though they are written in Hiragana here, The definitive difference appears when they are used in front of a noun (in the “attributive use”); that is, only なnaadjectives need なna if they are used in front of a noun, thus they are called なnaadjectives!

While いiadjectives all end in the Hiragana いi, not all adjectives ending in いi are いiadjectives, unfortunately. ゆうめいyuumei ends in –いi when written in Hiragana, but normally it is written 有名 in Kanji and means “famous” or “well-known” and it is a なnaadjective. That means, you need なna between ゆうめいyuumei and the noun after, which is ほんhon here.

このkono ほんhonはwa ゆうめいyuumei ですdesu。= This book is famous.
これkoreはwa ゆうめいyuumeiなna ほんhon ですdesu。= This is a famous book.

For a list of なnaadjective which ends in –いi, click here.

* The only なnaadjective that ends in the Hiragana –いi and that you need to know as a beginner is 嫌いkirai (dislike, unfond).

More examples

[なnaadjectives]

このkono ほんhonはwa ゆうめいyuumei ですdesu。This book is famous.
これkoreはwa ゆうめいyuumeiなna ほんhon ですdesu。This is a famous book.

そのsono もんだいmondaiはwa かんたんkantan ですdesu。This question is easy.
それsoreはwa かんたんkantanなna もんだいmondai ですdesu。This is an easy question.

あのano かばんkabanはwa じょうぶjoubu ですdesu。That bag is strong.
あれareはwa じょうぶjoubuなna かばんkaban ですdesu。That is a strong bag.

あのano こうえんkouenはwa しずかshizuka ですdesu。That park is quiet.
あれareはwa しずかshizukaなna こうえんkouen ですdesu。That is a quiet park.

[いiadjectives]

このkono みずmizuはwa つめたいtsumetai ですdesu。 This water is cold.
これkoreはwa つめたいtsumetaiみずmizu ですdesu。This is cold water.

このkono ケーキkeekiはwa おいしいoishii ですdesu。 This cake is delicious.
これkoreはwa おいしいoishii ケーキkeeki ですdesu。This is a delicious cake.

このkono セーターseetaaはwa あたたかいatatakai ですdesu。This jumper is warm.
これkoreはwa あたたかいatatakai セーターseetaa ですdesu。This is a warm jumper.

そのsono はなしhanashiはwa みじかいmijikai ですdesu。That story is short.
それsoreはwa みじかいmijikai はなしhanashi ですdesu。That is a short story.

あのano まんがmangaはwa つまらないtsumaranai ですdesu。That cartoon is boring.
あれareはwa つまらないtsumaranai まんがmanga ですdesu。That is a boring cartoon.

New Vocabulary

あたたかい	atatakai	いadj	not too cold, warm, mild
かんたん	kantan	なadj	simple, easy
じょうぶ	joubu	なadj	strong, solid, durable
つまらない	tsumaranai	いadj	insignificant, boring
みじかい	mijikai	いadj	short (opposite of long)
かばん	kaban	noun	bag (usually with a fixed shape)
ケーキ	keeki	noun	cake
こうえん	kouen	noun	(public) park, playground
セーター	seetaa	noun	sweater, jumper
はなし	hanashi	noun	talk, story
ほん	hon	noun	book
まんが	manga	noun	manga, comics, a cartoon
もんだい	mondai	noun	problem, question

Suggested activities

If a sentence below starts with このkono、そのsono、あのano, change it to a sentence starting with これkore、それsore、あれare or vise-versa. Check your answer with above examples.

1. あのano かばんkabanはwa じょうぶjoubu ですdesu。
2. あのano こうえんkouenはwa しずかshizuka ですdesu。
3. あれareはwa つまらないtsumaranai まんがmanga ですdesu。
4. このkono セーターseetaaはwa あたたかいatatakai ですdesu。
5. このkono ほんhonはwa ゆうめいyuumei ですdesu。
6. このkono みずmizuはwa つめたいtsumetai ですdesu。
7. これkoreはwa おいしいoishii ケーキkeeki ですdesu。
8. そのsono もんだいmondaiはwa かんたんkantan ですdesu。
9. それsoreはwa みじかいmijikai はなしhanashi ですdesu。

Related Posts

• なadjectives ending in いi
• いiadjectives and なadjectives (2)

You can try doing Exercises 4 to 8 of Module 2 of the Moodle Course.