Lesson 3

Colors

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Because colors are usually used as adjectives, and because Japanese colors have their own strange set of rules, I thought I'd make a separate lesson out of them.

Here are ten popular colors as they are used when not preceding a noun, which is most of the time:

• aka: red
• ao: blue
• kiiro: yellow
• midori: green
• murasaki: purple
• daidaiiro: orange
• chairo: brown
• shiro: white
• kuro: black
• nezumiiro: gray

Please keep in mind that iro means "color," and that four of the above are made by adding iro to a noun:

• kiiro: yellow (ki [sulfur] + iro [color])
• daidaiiro: orange (daidai [a kind of orange] + iro [color])
• chairo: brown (cha [tea] + iro [color])
• nezumiiro: gray (nezumi [mouse] + iro [color])

While it is possible to leave off the iro in some instances, this is how these colors are used most of the time. It is also possible to add iro to the others which usually don't use it: midori iro (green, greenish); shiro iro (white, whitish); etc.

Here are a few examples where the color comes after the noun it modifies:

1. Rick no kuruma wa aka. (Rick's car is red.)
2. Watashi no inu wa shiro to chairo. (My dog's white and brown.)
3. Kondo jitensha o kattara ao ga ii. (The next time I buy a bicycle I want a blue one.)

Again, most of the time the color of something is mentioned in Japanese, it's after the subject or object in question, like in the above examples. When you want to put a color directly before the object, add i to aka, ao, shiro and kuro; add no — not na — to midori, murasaki, daidaiiro and nezumiiro; and you can add either i or no to kiiro and chairo:

1. Kanojo no utsukushii kuroi kami o mite. (Look at her beautiful black hair.)
2. Watashi wa shiroi kutsu o kaitai. (I want to buy some white shoes.)
3. Junko wa kiiroi kasa o motte iru. (Junko's holding a yellow umbrella.)
4. Kono akai jisho wa dare no? (Whose red dictionary is this?)
5. Kono murasaki no fuusen wa mise de moratta. (I got this purple balloon at the store.)
6. Bob wa ooki na nezumiiro no tsukue o katta. (Bob bought a big gray desk.)

Colors with i added become and behave the same as true adjectives; those with no behave like quasis.

There's a handy prefix that works especially well with three colors. It's ma, and it means "true." Note how the pronunciation changes with ma added:

• makka: bright red
• masshiro: pure white
• makkuro: jet black

These are usually handled as regular quasi-adjectives, and use na before the noun they modify:

Ano makka na hana ga kirei desu ne. (That bright red flower is pretty, isn't it?)

And here's a useful suffix: -ppoi. It works like "-ish" in English, and comes in handy when you don't know what to call a color. All colors become true adjectives with it attached:

Kanojo wa midorippoi boushi o kabutta. (She wore a greenish hat.)

Sono kiiroppoi sushi wa mazui. (That yellowish sushi is nasty.)

By the way, you will find that the names for colors in Japanese, especially the primary ones, have a more abstract role than their English counterparts. Aka can mean anything from dark orange to copper or reddish purple; ao from green to bluish purple; and kiiro from light orange to pale yellow. In Japan, you stop when the light's aka, and go when it's ao.

Adjectives suki, kirai, hoshii, jouzu and heta

These five adjectives play by their own set of rules. Since they are used regularly, I think it would be good to get used to their weird ways as soon as possible.

Suki means "to like" and kirai means "to dislike." Yes, that's right — just as there are ideas conveyed through verbs in Japanese where adjectives would be used in English, as mentioned in Lesson 1, the reverse is also true. If you'll check your dictionary, you'll see that both of these exist in verb form: suku and kirau; but the chances are very slim that you'll ever hear them used that way. You will, however, hear them used in passive constructions, like:

Kazuko wa doko ni itte mo sukareru. (Kazuko is liked wherever she goes.)

Nattou wa takusan no hito kara kirawarete iru. (Nattou [fermented soybeans] is disliked by many people.)

For regular, straightforward talk about what you and others like and don't like, use suki and kirai in quasi-adjective form:

Nihon no aki ga suki. (I like autumn in Japan.) Nihon no natsu wa mushiatsui kara suki dewa nai . (I don't like summers in Japan because they're hot and humid.)

• Nihon no aki ga suki. (I like autumn in Japan.)
• Nihon no natsu wa mushiatsui kara suki dewa nai . (I don't like summers in Japan because they're hot and humid.)
• Mina gokiburi ga kirai. (Everyone hates cockroaches.)

Note that ga is used to link suki or kirai to their object when there is no other necessary element between them.

You can put dai (a lot; very much) before suki or kirai to emphasize them:

• Linda wa ichigo ga dai suki. (Linda loves strawberries.)
• Beth wa kumo ga dai kirai. (Beth really hates spiders.)

When you put the object in question after suki or kirai, use the quasi indicator na:

• Sore wa boku no suki na ongaku. (That's the music that I like.)
• Tanaka-san wa boku no kirai na tabemono bakari tsukuru. (All the food Mrs. Tanaka makes is the stuff I don't like.)

Interestingly, and mainly colloquially, these can also be used to modify the indirect object:

• Yasai no suki na kodomo ga sukunai. (There are few kids that like vegetables.)
• Sashimi ga kirai na hito ga takusan imasu. (There are many people that don't like raw fish.)

While hoshii is a true adjective, it's used to represent the English verb "want." It also uses ga when following its object, but remains alone when preceding it:

• Fuusen ga hoshii! (I want a balloon!)
• Watashi no hoshii iro ga nai. (They don't have the color I want.)
• Akai fuusen no hoshii kodomo ga ooi. (There are many kids who want a red balloon.)

Although hoshii isn't necessarily a kid's word, outside of familiar circles it could make you sound like one when expressing your own desires, so you'll want to be careful with it.

I should mention here that hoshii can be used with verbs in the Te Form to imply "want (someone) to...," just like -te moraitai. It's not used on yourself. It's used like this:

• Boku wa ima kono heya o souji shitai. Soshite kimi ni tetsudatte hoshii. (I want to clean this room now, and I want you to help.)
• Motto eigo o benkyou shite hoshii. (I want you to study English more.)
• Kore o yonde hoshii. (I want you to read this.)

This is very plain and familiar, however. Be sure to upgrade to something like -te kudasai or -te itadakitai when necessary. (See Japanese Verbs Lessons 55 and 61.)

Like suki and kirai, jouzu and heta are quasi-adjective opposites that fill the role of ideas usually expressed by verbs in English. They also use ga before or na after in the same manner. Jouzu means "to be good at; well done," and heta means the exact opposite:

• Kanojo wa ryouri ga jouzu desu ne. (She's a good cook, isn't she. [with falling intonation])
• Sore wa jouzu na e. (That's a nicely done painting.)
• Watashi wa piano ga hontou ni heta desu. (I'm really bad at playing the piano.)
• Heta na uta! (What a poorly done song!)
• Karaoke ga jouzu na hito ga sukunai. (There aren't many people who are good at karaoke.)

There are a few expressions with jouzu where the ga is often omitted:

• Kare wa eigo jouzu. (He speaks English well.)
• Sachi wa ryouri jouzu deshou? (Sachi's a great cook, isn't she?)

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