Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Lesson 4 Lesson 5
Making adverbs from adjectives is quite easy. With true adjectives, just replace the final i with ku before adding the verb. With quasis, just add ni :
- Ojii-san wa itsumo osoku taberu. (Grampa always eats slowly.)
- Hayaku shinasai! (Do it quickly!)
- Kazuya wa e o jouzu ni kakeru. (Kazuya can draw pictures well.)
- Kono shigoto wa kantan ni dekiru yo. (You'll be able to do this job easily.)
- Shinpai shinaide! Dandan jouzu ni naru yo. (Don't worry! You'll gradually become better at it.)
- Mai toshi boku no shigoto wa muzukashiku narimasu. (My job gets more difficult every year.)
- Lisa wa kaigai kara kaeru to, itsumo byouki ni naru. (Lisa always gets sick after returning from overseas.)
Use suru with descriptive adverbs for "to make":
- Ookiku shite kureru? (Would you make it bigger?)
- Atatakaku shite agemashou. (I'll make it warmer for you.)
- Watashitachi wa anzen ni shinakereba naranai. (We must make it safe.)
Conditional Forms
To make positive conditionals, replace the final i with kereba in true adjectives, and add nara to quasis:
- Yasukereba kaimashou. (If it's inexpensive, let's buy it.)
- Soto wa atsukereba detakunai. (I don't want to go out if it's hot outside.)
- Inu wa byouki nara, juui ni tsurete ikou. (If the dog's sick, let's take him to the vet.)
Note: Naraba can also be used after quasi-adjectives, but nara is more common.
For negative conditionals, use ku nakereba (the negative-forming ku nai + kereba) with true adjectives, and de nakereba (the negative-forming de nai + kereba) with quasis:
- Ashita wa samuku nakereba ikimashou. (If it's not cold tomorrow, let's go.)
- Kono pasokon ga hoshiku nakereba, betsu no mise ni ikimashou. (If you don't want this computer, let's go to another store.)
- Mise no basho wa benri de nakereba, kyaku ga sukunai deshou. (If the store isn't in a convenient location, it probably won't get many customers.)
The Te Form + mo
There are just two adjective "te form" endings that I hear used often enough to mention. The first is mo ii, which means "it's okay if...," and the second is mo kamawanai, a similar ending meaning "I don't mind if...."
To convert true adjectives to the "te form," remove the final i and add kute; quasis just need a de. Here are a few examples:
- Ookikute mo ii. (If it's large that's okay.)
- Sukoshi furukute mo ii. (It's all right if it's a little old.)
- Kare wa heta de mo ii. (It's okay if he's not good at it.)
- Johnson sensei wa kibishikute mo kamawanai. (I don't mind if Mr. Johnson's strict.)
Note: Sensei is the name suffix for "teacher."
- Sono mise wa fuben de mo kamawanai no? (Don't you mind that store being inconveniently located?)
To make these polite, add desu to ii and use kamaimasen instead of kamawanai :
- Sukoshi fuben de mo ii desu. (It's okay if it's a bit inconvenient.)
- Soto wa samukute mo kamaimasen. (I don't mind if it's cold out.)
The negative forms of -kute mo ii and de mo ii were covered at the bottom of Lesson 2.
Plain Past
Use katta and datta to make adjectives plain and past. Datta is the universal plain form of deshita, and can be used at the end of many sentences to make them plain and past. Katta is for true adjectives only, however, and is added after removing the final i.
Here are a few true adjective examples:
•Kyou wa atsukatta! (It was hot today!)
•Suugaku no shiken wa totemo muzukashikatta. (The math test was very difficult.)
•Kinou no ryokou wa tanoshikatta. (Yesterday's trip was fun.)
And here are some quasi examples:
•Kinou byouki datta. (I was sick yesterday.)
•Juu nen mae ni John wa binbou datta. (Ten years ago John was poor.)
•Rekishi no shukudai wa kantan datta. (The history homework was easy.)
Now, having done this, you can further conjugate using the endings and combinations applicable to other plain forms, like those in Lesson 2:
•Samukatta deshou? (It was cold, wasn't it?)
•Chiisakatta hazu. (It was supposed to be small.)
•Kare wa totemo ganko datta rashii. (It seems he was very stubborn.)
If you are ending a sentence with an adjective and want to make it past and polite, just add desu after katta in true adjectives, and use deshita instead of datta with quasis:
•Kaigi wa nagakatta desu. (The meeting was long.)
•Shokuji wa kanzen deshita. (The meal was perfect.)
Note: The adjective ii (good) is not conjugated into the past tense. Use yokatta to say that something "was good."
Finally, in case you need the plain past negative, just change the nai covered in Lesson 2 to nakatta :
•Kinou wa atsuku nakatta. (It wasn't hot yesterday.)
•Sore wa kantan dewa nakatta. Totemo muzukashikatta! (That wasn't easy. It was very difficult!)
To upgrade these to polite, use arimasen deshita instead of nakatta.
