Learn Japanese Adjectives: A Comprehensive Guide

If you are learning Japanese and would like to find a detailed and easy-to-understand guide to learning Japanese adjectives, then congratulations! You’ve come to the right place.
Adjective is an essential component of the Japanese language. They can describe, define, and distinguish nouns, plus many other functions. It’s hard for me to imagine a world without adjectives – all poetry, romance, and emotion would disappear.
Please do not skip this article if you are struggling with い-adjectives and な-adjectives and are not proficient in their conjugations. I’ll be happy to introduce you to Japanese adjectives from a comprehensive perspective. Additionally, this article will help you expand your vocabulary by providing a list 120 of the most common Japanese adjectives.
Note that romanization will not be provided in this article as I assume you should already know the Japanese writing system at this point. If not, please learn them first with the LingoDeer app for free or from our hiragana charts.
Well, without further ado… please have your notebooks at hand and let’s start learning Japanese adjectives!
In Japanese, there are mainly two types of adjectives: い-adjectives and な-adjectives. The above image shows their basic usage. Now read on for more details!
Table of Contents
い-adjectives
Let’s start with い-adjectives. These are called “形容詞” in Japanese, which literally means “adjectives.” From here on out, we will refer to these kinds of adjectives as “い-adjectives” for convenience.
The most prominent characteristic of い-adjectives is that all of them have the “い” ending. Similar to English adjectives, い-adjectives are mainly used to modify nouns or as a predicative in a sentence. Next, let’s learn about い-adjectives conjugation.
Basic Conjugation
Like English, Japanese is a language with tenses. Japanese has only two tenses, present/future tense and past tense, while there are 16 tenses in English. Another difference is that only verbs are conjugated in English, but both verbs and adjectives are conjugated in Japanese.
Furthermore, in English, the way to make an adjective negative is by adding no or not before it. For example, “Today is not hot.” However, in Japanese, negative statements are made by conjugating adjectives.
Take the い-adjective “暑い”as an example. The following table shows its four basic conjugations. If you are unfamiliar with them, please master them as soon as possible because they are essential for newbies.
Present / Future | Past | |
Positive | 暑い | 暑かった |
Negative | 暑くない | 暑くなかった |
You may have noticed that the present and future tenses are not separate in Japanese. So how do we determine whether a sentence is in the present or future tense? We can use the rest of the sentence as a clue to figure out its tense.
今日は暑い。明日も暑い。
It’s hot today. Tomorrow will be hot, too.
In the above example, two nouns, “今日 (today)” and “明日(tomorrow),” inform us of what the two sentences’ tenses are.
Besides, there are other ways to identify a tense in a sentence, which you will figure out in your future studies. Now, let’s learn more sentences to grasp the basic conjugation of い-adjectives.
東京は暑い – Tokyo is hot
ニューヨーク は暑くない – New York is not hot
去年の東京は暑かった – Last year, Tokyo was hot
昨日は暑くなかった – Yesterday was not hot
How to place い-adjectives in Japanese
If you’re already familiar with the four basic conjugations of い-adjectives mentioned above, let’s see how い-adjectives are applied in sentences. I will introduce this part in terms of the positions of い-adjectives in sentences.
- at the end of a sentence
When an い-adjective occurs at the end of a sentence, it is called an PREDICATIVE adjective. If you don’t know much about the concept of sentence clause structure, you can just skip it. Please remember that such a case is common in English as well. The example sentences in the Basic Conjugation part are all cases of い-adjective occurring at the end of a sentence.
東京は暑い – Tokyo is hot
ニューヨーク は暑くない – New York is not hot
去年の東京は暑かった – Last year, Tokyo was hot
昨日は暑くなかった – Yesterday was not hot
Do you know that Japanese is a language with an honorific system? As a beginner, you are supposed to know the primary difference between polite and casual speech.
The four example sentences above are all in casual speech. So, how can we convert them into polite speech? It’s easy – add “です(desu)” at the end of the sentences.
東京は暑いです – Tokyo is hot
ニューヨーク は暑くないです – New York is not hot
去年の東京は暑かったです – Last year, Tokyo was hot
昨日は暑くなかったです – Yesterday was not hot
- before a noun
Like most adjectives in English, い-adjectives can also be placed before a noun. This is called ATTRIBUTIVE adjectives. Again, simply ignore it if you are confused about the sentence composition for now. Let’s take a look at these specific sets of examples below:
暑い夏 – hot summer
昨日、面白くない映画を見ました – I watched an uninteresting movie yesterday
You may notice that in the above examples, the い-adjectives, 暑い and 面白くない, are both in the present/future tense, despite the change of negative and positive in the statement. So, can past tense い-adjectives occur before a noun? The answer depends. Generally speaking, when past tense い-adjectives come before a noun, it contains a meaning of “change.” Therefore, it can’t be used for something constant.
暑かった夏 ×
面白くなかった映画 〇
美しかった女優 〇
The first sentence has no grammatical errors, but it doesn’t sound very natural for Japanese speakers.
The second sentence is correct. A movie that was once boring has since become attractive (to me) for some reason. Similarly, in the third sentence, the actress who used to be beautiful is now probably no longer beautiful due to advanced age (indeed, I think each age has its charms.)
- in the middle of a sentence
い-adjectives can also occur in the middle of sentences. In this case, they connect two simple sentences to a compound sentence. If you don’t know what a compound sentence is, the following example may help you.
That restaurant was delicious and the servers were friendly.
In the above sentence, “and” connects two simple sentences, forming a compound sentence. Did you get it? Good! Then, how can we combine two simple sentences with い-adjectives in Japanese?
That restaurant was delicious – あの レストラン は美味しかった
The servers were friendly – 店員が優しかった
To answer this question, I’d like to introduce another conjugation of い-adjectives to you – the te-form (て形). By turning the い ending of an い-adjective into くて (美味しい → 美味しくて), we can turn it into its te-form. The te-form is used to connect two simple sentences.
あの レストラン は美味しくて、店員も優しかった。
That restaurant was delicious and the servers were friendly.
I’m guessing you are wondering what the tense of a te-form い-adjective is. Well, it doesn’t have a tense. We can only judge a sentence’s tense by its end part. In the above example, “優しかった” indicates that it’s a past tense sentence.
This example shows that the restaurant is delicious (美味しい), but what if the restaurant’s food isn’t so delicious (美味しくない)? Fortunately, all you need to do is turn the ending い into くて, 美味しくない→美味しくなくて.
あの レストラン は美味しくなくて、店員も優しくなかった。
That restaurant was not delicious and the servers were not friendly.
Some tricky, irregular い-adjectives
After studying the above, I believe you have a basic understanding of い-adjectives. It could be said that the grammar rules I mentioned earlier apply to 99.9% of い-adjectives. Next, let’s learn some tricky ones. They are like a few lilies in a field of roses.
いい
When I was a Japanese language teacher in a high school in 2020, there were always students complaining that one い-adjective in particular, いい, was difficult. However, it’s not difficult at all! The literal meaning of いい is good or nice, and its kanji form is 良い. What most learners find difficult is its conjugation.
Present / Future | Past | |
Positive | いい/よい | よかった |
Negative | よくない | よくなかった |
いい equals よい. When it comes to conjugation, you don’t want to conjugate いい but よい. Let’s think of よい as the stunt double of いい, the big star, to do many difficult jobs for it! 😉
かわいい
かわいい means cute or lovely, and the kanji form is 可愛い. It was just an ordinary い-adjective, but when grading students’ assignments, I noticed that many students made mistakes in its conjugation. If you have the same problem, you may be confused by its double い.
The first い in かわいい is a part of the kanji, 愛 (わい). Like other adjectives, かわいい has only one ending, the second い.
Present / Future | Past | |
Positive | かわいい | かわいかった |
Negative | かわいくない | かわいくなかった |
多い、少ない、近い、遠い
多い and 少ない respectively mean “many” and “few.” 近い and 遠い respectively mean “near” and “far.” They seem like just four common adjectives by their meanings. However, it would be best for you to be careful about their applications.
Most い-adjectives can freely occur in the ATTRIBUTIVE position (before the noun) and the PREDICATIVE position (at the end of the sentence). However, the above four ones are restricted to the predicative position only.
many people | few people | nearby hotel | distant city |
多い人 × | 少ない人 × | 近いホテル × | 遠い町 × |
人が多い 〇 | 人が少ない 〇 | ホテル が近い 〇 | 町が遠い 〇 |
多くの人 〇 | 少なくの人 〇 | 近くの ホテル 〇 | 遠くの町 〇 |
As you see in the table, these four adjectives cannot occur in the ATTRIBUTIVE position (before the noun), but if you change their endings from い to く and add the particle の, they can be placed before the noun. My beginner friend, don’t worry about why this is just yet – just remember this particular rule for these four adjectives.
い-Adjectives with しい ending
First of all, please don’t be nervous. We are not talking about a new kind of adjective here. Adjectives ending in しい still belong to the group of い-adjectives. Additionally, their conjugations and other grammatical rules are no different.
い-adjectives ending in しい are often used to describe emotions, feelings, and personal qualities, as in the following examples:
嬉しい – happy
悲しい – sad
寂しい – lonely
大人しい – gentle
恥ずかしい – shameful
In Japanese, い-adjectives that end in しい and contain an emotional meaning can only be used to describe one’s own feelings, but not others. Why? Because we can’t read people’s minds and know how they are feeling. I know this sounds strange because, in English, we would say things like “you are sad.” However, い-adjectives cannot be used to describe others’ feelings or emotions.
私は悲しいです – I’m sad 〇
あなたは悲しいです – You are sad ×
Nevertheless, if it is an interrogative sentence, you can use emotional い-adjectives that end with しい to ask someone how they feel.
(あなたは) 悲しいですか – Are you sad? 〇
It should also be noted that not all い-adjectives ending in しい describe people’s emotions.
な-Adjectives
After reading the above, I’m sure you’ve already grasped the gist of い-Adjectives. Next, let’s take a look at the application of な-adjectives. な-adjectives are called “形容動詞” in Japanese, which means adjectival noun.
The first thing we need to figure out is that い-adjective and な-adjective are the two main groups that comprise Japanese adjectives. In other words, the functions of these two categories are the same. The only difference is in their conjugations.
You may be confused as to why there are two types of adjectives in Japanese when English has only one. Well, we may need to learn a bit about the history of the Japanese language.
い-adjectives are mainly native Japanese words (wago), but they are very limited in number and cannot meet the needs of many expressions. Therefore, since the Heian period, Japanese people have converted nouns with adjectival meanings into adjectives, called な-adjectives (adjective nouns) today. The origins of these nouns tend to be borrowed words from Chinese.
Basic Conjugation
As I introduced in the い-Adjective section, conjugations in Japanese are mainly changes in tense and statement. All な-adjectives have the だ ending, but when you look up them in the dictionary, だ is missing. For example, the な-adjective “安全だ” (safe) can only be found as “安全” when you look it up in the dictionary.
Similar to い-adjectives, which rely on changing their い ending in order to conjugate, な-adjectives also depend on their だ ending.
Present / Future | Past | |
Positive | 安全だ | 安全だった |
Negative | 安全ではない | 安全ではなかった |
One more thing to note: the spoken form of ではない is じゃない. Similarly, ではなかった equals じゃなかった. Besides, unlike with い-Adjectives, when a な-adjective is placed before a noun, you must change its ending だ into な—for example, 安全な所. This is why it’s called な-adjective.
Where can な-adjectives be placed in a sentence
In the above session, we looked at a breakdown of な-adjectives. Next, let’s look at their specific application in sentences.
- at the end of a sentence
Like い-adjectives, when a な-adjective occurs at the end of a sentence, it is called an PREDICATIVE adjective. As I mentioned earlier, い-adjective and な-adjective are the same in their application – the only difference is their conjugations. Here are a few examples of な-adjectives placed at the end of sentences.
この国は安全だ – This country is safe.
あの町は綺麗だった – That town was beautiful.
日本語が上手では ( じゃ ) ない – Not good at Japanese.
店員は親切では ( じゃ ) なかった – The servers were not friendly.
I mentioned that Japanese is a language with an honorific system. Respect in Japanese is mainly expressed at the end of sentences. How can we convert the above casual sentences into polite speech?
You may remember that い-adjectives are converted to honorific speech by adding です directly at the end of the sentence. However, な-adjectives work a little bit differently. To convert a な-adjective from the casual form to the polite form, we need to change its だ ending.
Present / Future | Past | |
Positive | だ = です | だった = でした |
Negative | ではない = ではありません | ではなかった = ではありませんでした |
Therefore, the above four casual sentences are converted into the following:
この国は安全です – This country is safe.
あの町は綺麗でした – That town was beautiful.
日本語が上手ではありません – Not good at Japanese.
店員は親切ではありませんでした – The servers were not friendly.
- before a noun
When a な-adjective is placed before a noun, it is called an ATTRIBUTIVE adjective. You need to change the ending from “だ” to “な” or put it after the present negative of casual speech (-ではない、-じゃない)
安全な国 – safe country
綺麗な町 – beautiful city
上手じゃない日本語 – not good at Japanese
親切ではない店員 – unfriendly servers
Likewise, when past tense な-adjectives are placed before a noun, it states a fact of the past that is no longer true now.
綺麗だった町 – The town used to be beautiful
親切ではなかった店員 – The staff was unfriendly
In the first example, the town used to be beautiful or clean. Now perhaps many tourists have made it dirty. In the second example, the staff used to be unfriendly, but now it is possible that new staff is hired or the same one has been trained to be friendly.
- in the middle of a sentence
We have already discussed the concept of compound and simple sentences before. A な-adjective may also appear in the middle of a sentence and be used to connect two simple sentences. In order to do these, we need the te- form, remember? The te-form of a な-adjective is to change its ending from “だ” to “で.”
綺麗だ → 綺麗で
親切だ → 親切で
あのサロンは綺麗で、スタッフも親切だ。
That salon is beautiful and the staff is friendly.
Neither an い-adjective’s nor a な-adjective’s te-form indicates the tense. Instead, the tense is reflected by the last part of the sentence.
Some tricky な-adjectives
Here are several な-adjectives that confuse many beginners, so please be careful!
嫌い
The meaning of “きらい” is “dislike.” It looks like an い-adjective, but it is not. It would be best if you remembered it as an exception. Its conjugation is not different from other な-adjectives.
嫌いな人 – disliked person
数学が嫌いだ – I dislike math
同じ
We have already mentioned that when an adjective is placed before a noun, its ending needs to be changed from だ to な. When it comes to this rule, 同じ is the black sheep of the な-adjective family because it should be placed before nouns without な.
同じ人 – the same person
同じ花 – the same flower
綺麗
Many of my students will take the な-adjective 綺麗 (beautiful) as an い-adjective. The い is part of the kanji 麗(れい), not the word ending. Thus, 綺麗 is no different from any other な-adjective.
綺麗なスカート – beautiful skirt
日本は綺麗だ – Japan is beautiful
小さな、大きな
Don’t these two words look familiar? Remember we mentioned “小さい” and “大きい” in the “some tricky い-adjectives” part? First, let’s make it clear that “小さい” and “大きい” are い-adjectives, while “小さな” and “大きな are adnominal adjectives (not な-adjectives.)
Although they are not な-adjectives, I prefer to mention them here as they are very important. The primary difference between them and な-adjective is that they do not have the ending だ and cannot be placed at the end of a sentence (PREDICATIVE). They can only be put before a noun.
大きな問題 – big issue
問題は大きな ×
小さな会社 – small company
会社は小さな ×
Well, “大きな,” “小さな” is mainly used to modify nouns with abstract concepts, in the above example, “問題 (issue)” and “会社 (company)” are both abstract concepts in human society. In contrast, “大きい,” “小さい” tend to modify visible, concrete things.
大きい リンゴ – big apple
リンゴは大きい – The apple is big
小さい丸 – small circle
丸は小さい – The circle is small
How to connect い-adjectives and な-adjectives together
Remember when we discussed い-adjectives and な-adjectives joining two simple sentences? We need to convert them to the te-form.
So how do we put two い-adjectives or two な-adjectives or an い-adjective and a な-adjective together as if we were constructing Gundam models? Again, you need to convert them into their respective te-forms. The following four sets of examples can give you a clear explanation.
- 明るくて優しい人 – a sunny and gentle person (two い-adjectives, 明るい, and 優しい)
- 綺麗で静かな町 – beautiful and quiet town (two な-adjectives, 綺麗, and 静か)
- 明るくて元気な子供 – a cheerful and energetic child (an い-adjective and a な-adjective)
- 元気で明るい子供 – an energetic and cheerful child (Yes, the order can be reversed)
Nouns can also be adjectives
As I mentioned, な-adjectives were created to make up for the deficiency of い-adjectives. They are converted from adjectival nouns. For example, 綺麗 means beauty, but when converted into a な-adjective 綺麗な, its meaning becomes beautiful.
In modern Japanese, many nouns are still used as adjectives without being converted into adjectives. When a noun modifies another noun, we need to join them with の.
私のカバン – my bag
緑の植物 – green plants
ネコ の食べ物 – cat food
120 most common Japanese adjectives list
Dear readers, thank you for reading this far. If you wish to expand your vocabulary of Japanese adjectives a bit more, below is a list of 120 essential Japanese adjectives. You can also download the pdf.
Adjective |
Hiragana |
Meaning |
|
Colors |
|||
1 |
赤い |
あかい |
red |
2 |
青い |
あおい |
blue |
3 |
緑 |
みどり |
green |
4 |
黄色い |
きいろい |
yellow |
5 |
黒い |
くろい |
black |
6 |
白い |
しろい |
white |
7 |
紫 |
むらさき |
purple |
8 |
ピンク |
ぴんく |
pink |
9 |
茶色い |
ちゃいろい |
brown |
Personalities |
|||
10 |
優しい |
やさしい |
kind |
11 |
親切な |
しんせつな |
hospitable, friendly |
12 |
友好的な |
ゆうこうてきな |
friendly |
13 |
礼儀正しい |
れいぎただしい |
polite |
14 |
社交的な |
しゃこうてきな |
outgoing |
15 |
正直な |
しょうじきな |
honest |
16 |
無邪気な |
むじゃきな |
innocent |
17 |
意地悪な |
いじわるな |
mean, nasty |
18 |
退屈な |
たいくつな |
boring |
19 |
ずるい |
sly |
|
20 |
真面目な |
まじめな |
serious |
21 |
勇敢な |
ゆうかんな |
brave |
22 |
楽観的な |
らっかんてきな |
optimistic |
23 |
悲観的な |
ひかんてきな |
pessimistic |
24 |
わんぱくな |
naughty |
|
25 |
怠け者 |
なまけもの |
lazy |
26 |
頑固な |
がんこうな |
stubborn |
27 |
繊細な |
せんさいな |
sensitive |
28 |
賢い |
かしこい |
smart |
29 |
勤勉な |
きんべんな |
deligent |
30 |
謙虚な |
けんきょな |
humble |
31 |
神経質な |
しんけいしつな |
picky |
32 |
複雑な |
ふくざつな |
complicated |
33 |
不器用な |
ぶきような |
clumsy |
Characteristics |
|||
34 |
大きい |
おおきい |
big, huge |
35 |
小さい |
ちいさい |
small, little |
36 |
浅い |
あさい |
shallow |
37 |
深い |
ふかい |
deep |
38 |
高い |
たかい |
tall, expansive |
39 |
低い |
ひくい |
short (person’s length) |
40 |
安い |
やすい |
cheap |
41 |
古い |
ふるい |
old |
42 |
新しい |
あたらしい |
new |
43 |
安全な |
あんぜんな |
safe |
44 |
危ない |
あぶない |
dangerous |
45 |
清潔な |
せいけつな |
clean |
46 |
汚い |
きたない |
dirty |
47 |
強い |
つよい |
strong |
48 |
弱い |
よわい |
weak |
49 |
忙しい |
いそがしい |
busy |
50 |
暇な |
ひまな |
leisurely |
51 |
狭い |
せまい |
narrow |
52 |
広い |
ひろい |
wide |
53 |
可愛い |
かわいい |
cute |
54 |
嫌いな |
きらいな |
disliked |
55 |
美しい |
うつくしい |
beautiful |
56 |
綺麗な |
きれいな |
pretty |
57 |
醜い |
みにくい |
ugly |
58 |
渇いた |
かわいた |
dry |
59 |
濡れた |
ぬれた |
wet |
60 |
遠い |
とおい |
far |
61 |
近い |
ちかい |
near |
62 |
速い、早い |
あやい |
fast |
63 |
遅い |
おそい |
slow |
64 |
多い |
おおい |
many |
65 |
少ない |
すくない |
less, few |
66 |
暑い |
あつい |
hot (weather) |
67 |
寒い |
さむい |
cold (weather) |
68 |
涼しい |
すずしい |
cool |
69 |
熱い |
あつい |
hot (thing) |
70 |
冷たい |
つめたい |
cold (thing) |
71 |
硬い, 堅い |
かたい |
hard |
72 |
柔らかい |
やわらかい |
soft |
73 |
明るい |
あかるい |
bright |
74 |
暗い |
くらい |
dark |
75 |
賑やかな |
にぎやかな |
bustling |
76 |
静かな |
しずかな |
quiet |
77 |
十分な |
じゅうぶんな |
enough |
78 |
足りない |
たりない |
lacking |
79 |
匂い |
におい |
flavour |
80 |
臭い |
におい |
smelly, stinky |
81 |
臭い |
くさい |
smelly, stinky |
82 |
太い |
ふとい |
fat (body type) |
83 |
細い |
ほそい |
thin (body type) |
84 |
長い |
ながい |
long (thing) |
85 |
短い |
みじかい |
short (thing) |
86 |
厚い |
あつい |
thick |
87 |
薄い |
うつい |
thin (thing) |
88 |
鋭い |
するどい |
sharp |
89 |
鈍い |
にぶい |
dull |
90 |
痒い |
かゆい |
itchy |
91 |
重い |
おもい |
heavy |
92 |
軽い |
かるい |
light |
93 |
上手い |
うまい |
appetizing |
94 |
旨い |
うまい |
delicious |
95 |
不味い |
まずい |
unappetizing |
96 |
上手な |
じょうずな |
skillful |
97 |
下手な |
へたな |
inferior |
98 |
甘い |
あまい |
sweet |
99 |
辛い |
からい |
spicy |
100 |
酸っぱい |
すっぱい |
sour |
101 |
塩辛い |
しおからい |
salty |
102 |
詰まらない |
つまらない |
boring |
103 |
面白い |
おもしろい |
interesting |
104 |
偉い |
えらい |
great (person) |
105 |
凄い |
すごい |
wonderful |
しい ending |
|||
106 |
恋しい |
こいしい |
beloved |
107 |
寂しい |
さびしい |
lonely |
108 |
難しい |
むずかしい |
difficult |
109 |
易しい |
やさしい |
easy |
110 |
懐かしい |
なつかしい |
missed |
111 |
恥ずかしい |
はずかしい |
shy |
112 |
大人しい |
おとなしい |
obedient |
113 |
頼もしい |
たのもしい |
reliable |
114 |
図々しい |
ずうずうしい |
shameless |
115 |
楽しい |
たのしい |
happy |
116 |
嬉しい |
うれしい |
happy, excited |
117 |
親しい |
したしい |
intimate |
118 |
悲しい |
かなしい |
sad |
119 |
素晴らしい |
すばらしい |
wonderful |
120 |
貧しい |
まずしい |
poor |
Hi, you have a typo in “simply ignor it”.
Hi, thank you for your kind comment. Just edited. Do you find the article helpful?
I believe some of the conjugations for かわいい are in the wrong place on its conjugation table. Thank you for the thorough explanation of adjectives!
Hi, thank you for pointing out a potential mistake. Can you specify which conjugation is in the wrong place?
Thank you for this very informative article
Hello! There is a typo above! In the example of conjugation, the Kanji reads 今日は above the Kanji it says こんにちは instead of きょは
Thank you for the reminding!