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い Adjectives Posted by on Jan 13, 2010 in Grammar

Generally speaking, an adjective is an adjective that ends in. (There are exceptions to this rule, but we’ll talk about that some other time.) Examples include:

はやい (fast)

おそい (slow)

ふるい (old for things)

To form the present affirmative polite of adjectives, add です to the adjective. Therefore:

たかい (tall, expensive) will be たかいです (It’s expensive)

やすい (cheap) will be やすいです (It’s cheap)

いそがしい (busy) will be いそがしいです (I’m/He/She/We/They are busy)

To form the negative present polite of an adjective, drop the and add くありません to the adjective.

さむい (cold, used for weather) will be さむくありません (It’s not cold)

あたらしい (new) will be あたらしくありません (It’s not new)

ちいさい (small) will be ちいさくありません (It’s not small)

To form the polite past affirmative, drop the ending and add かったです to the adjective

あつい (hot) will be あつかったです (was hot)

おもしろい (interesting) will be おもしろかったです (was interesting)

おおきい (big) will be おおきかったです (was big)

To form the past negative polite, drop the and add くありませんでした to the adjective

たのしい (fun) will be たのしくありませんでした (was not fun)

やさし (easy problem, kind person) will be やさしくありませんでした (was not easy, was not kind)

むずかしい (difficult) will be むずかしくありませんでした (was difficult)

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