11/12/2017 Japanese equivalents of adjectives - Wikipedia

Japanese equivalents of adjectives

The Japanese language does not have words that function as adjectives in a syntactic sense that is to say that tree
diagrams of Japanese sentences can be constructed without employing adjective phrases. Nevertheless, there are words
that function as adjectives in a semantic sense. This article deals with those words.

Contents
1 Types of adjective
2 Syntax
2.1 i-adjectives
2.1.1 shii-adjectives
2.2 na-adjectives
2.2.1 -yaka na adjectives
2.2.2 -raka na adjectives
2.2.3 taru-adjectives
2.2.4 naru-adjectives
2.3 Attributives
2.4 Archaic forms
3 Inflection
3.1 i-adjective
3.2 na-adjective
3.3 Adverb forms
4 Terminology
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links

Types of adjective
In Japanese, nouns and verbs can modify nouns, with nouns taking the particles when functioning attributively (in
the genitive case), and verbs in the attributive form ( rentaikei). These are considered separate classes of words,
however.

Most of the words that can be considered to be adjectives in Japanese fall into one of two categories variants of verbs,
and nouns:

adjective (Japanese: , keiyshi, literally "adjective"), or i-adjectives

These can be considered specialized verbs, and have a conjugating ending -i which can
become, for example, past or negative. For example, atsui () "hot":

(Atsui hi) ("a hot day")

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(Ky wa atsui.) ("Today is hot.")

adjectival noun (, keiy-dshi, literally "adjective verb"[a]), or na-adjectives

These can be considered a form of noun; these attach to a form of the copula, which then
inflects, but use -na (rather than the genitive ) when modifying a noun. For example,
hen () "strange":

(Hen-na hito) ("a strange person")

(Kare wa hen da.) ("he is strange.")

Both the predicative forms ( shshikei "terminal form") and attributive forms ( rentaikei) of adjectival verbs
and adjectival nouns can be analyzed as verb phrases, making the attributive forms of adjectival verbs and adjectival
nouns relative clauses, rather than adjectives. According to this analysis, Japanese has no syntactic adjectives.

Japanese adjectives that do not fall into either of these categories are usually grouped into a grab-bag category:

attributives (, rentaishi, literally "attributive")

These may only occur before nouns, not in a predicative position. They are various in derivation
and word class, and are generally analyzed as variants of more basic classes, where this
specific form (possibly a fossil) can only be used in restricted settings. For example, kina (
) "big" (variant of ):

(kina koto) ("a big thing")

A couple of small sub-categories can be distinguished in these categories, reflecting former grammatical distinctions or
constructions which no longer exist:

-shii adjectives (form of -i adjectives, see below)

-yaka na adjectives (see below)
-raka na adjectives (see below)
taru adjectives (, to,taru keiydshi, literally "to, taru adjectival noun")

These are a variant of the common na-nominals (adjectival noun; see article for naming) that
developed in Late Old Japanese and have mostly died out, surviving in a few cases as fossils;
they are usually classed as a form of (adjectival noun), as the Japanese name
indicates.

naru adjectives

These are words that were traditionally earlier forms of na-nominals, but that followed a path
similar to taru adjectives, surviving in a few cases as fossils. These are generally classed as
rentaishi.

Syntax

i-adjectives

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Adjectival verbs ( keiyshi) end with i (but never ei) in base form. They may predicate sentences and inflect
for past, negative, etc. As they head verb phrases, they can be considered a type of verbal (verb-like part of speech) and
inflect in an identical manner as the negative form of verbs. Their inflections are different and not so numerous as full
verbs.

The stem of i-adjectives can combine (prepend on the left), similar to the stem form (-masu stem) of verbs, though this is
less common than for verbs. Conversely, nouns or verb stems can sometimes prepend i-adjectives, or two i-adjectives can
combine, forming compound modifiers; these are much less common than Japanese compound verbs. Common examples
include omo-shiro-i (, interesting) "face-whitening" (noun + i-adjective) and zuru-gashiko-i (, sly) "crafty-
clever" (i-adjective stem + i-adjective), while haya-tochiri (, going off half-cocked) "fast-fumble" (i-adjective stem
+ verb stem) shows an adjective stem joining to form a noun.

shii-adjectives
A number of i-adjectives end in -shii () (sometimes written -sii). These are overwhelmingly words for feelings, like
kanashii (, sad) or ureshii (, happy). These were originally a separate class of adjectives, dating at least to Old
Japanese, where the two classes are known as -ku ( ) and -shiku ( ), corresponding to -i and -shii; see Old
Japanese: Adjectives. However, they merged over the course of Late Middle Japanese, and now shii-adjectives are simply a
form of i-adjectives; see Late Middle Japanese: Adjectives. The distinction, although no longer meaningful in
pronunciation, is still reflected by the writing system, where -- is still written out in hiragana, as in atarashii (,
new).

na-adjectives
Adjectival nouns ( keiy-dshi) always occur with a form of the copula, traditionally considered part of the
adjectival noun itself. The only difference between nouns and adjectival nouns is in the attributive form, where nouns take
no and adjectives take na. This has led many linguists to consider them a type of nominal (noun-like part of speech).
Together with this form of the copula they may also predicate sentences and inflect for past, negative, etc.

kirai may be the only non-on'yomi-based na-adjective that ends with a hiragana i. The rest are written in kanji so
they have no okurigana i. kirai derives from kirau, hence the exception.[1]

-yaka na adjectives
There are a number of na adjectives ending in -yaka, particularly for subjective words (compare -i adjectives
ending in -shii). This is believed to be a combination of two suffixes -ya and -ka, where -ya mean "softness" and
-ka meant "apparent, visible" (similar to modern -s, which is also followed by ), hence the combination -ya-
ka meant "appears somewhat ..., looks slightly ...". This was believed to have been used in the Nara era, and have become
particularly popular in the Heian period, but is no longer productive.[2] In some cases the original word is now only used
(or almost always used) in the -yaka form, such as aza-yaka "vivid, brilliant", oda-yaka "calm, gentle", and
sawa-yaka "fresh, clear", while in other cases the word is used in isolation, such as miyabi "elegant, graceful",
which is used alongside miyabi-yaka "elegant, graceful", and in other cases a related word also exists, such as
nigi-yaka "bustling, busy" and the verb nigi-wau "be bustling, be busy". The most basic of these is nigi-
yaka "bustling, busy", but many of these are everyday words. Due to the -yaka being originally a suffix, it is written as
okurigana, even though the compound word may now be a fixed unit.

-raka na adjectives

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Similarly, there are also a few na adjectives ending in -raka, of similar origin. These are generally less subjective,
but declined in popularity relative to the -yaka construction in the Heian period[2] Notable examples include aki-
raka "clear, obvious" and yawa-raka "soft, gentle". As with -yaka words, the is written out as
okurigana.

taru-adjectives
A variant of na adjectives exist, which take -taru when functioning attributively (as an adjective, modifying a
noun), and -to when functioning adverbally (when modifying a verb),[3] instead of the -na and -ni which
are mostly used with na adjectives. taru adjectives do not predicate a sentence (they cannot end a sentence, as verbs and i-
adjectives can) or take the copula (as na-adjectives and nouns can), but must modify a noun or verb. Note that sometimes
na adjectives take a , and Japanese sound symbolisms generally take a (sometimes optional) , though these are
different word classes.

There are very few of these words,[4] and they usually are considered somewhat stiff or archaic; this word class is generally
not covered in textbooks for foreign language learners of Japanese. One of the most common is dd "magnificent,
stately". These are referred to in Japanese as (to, taru keiydshi) or (taruto-kata
katsuy taru, to form conjugation).

See # for discussion in Japanese. Historically, these developed in Late Old Japanese as a variant of
na adjectives,[5][6] but the form mostly died out; the remaining taru adjectives are fossils.

naru-adjectives
There are also a few naru adjectives such as tannaru "mere, simple" or seinaru "holy", which developed
similarly to taru-adjectives.[5] As with taru adjectives, these cannot predicate or take the copula, but must modify a noun
(though not a verb these only modify nouns via , not verbs via ), and often occur in set phrases, such as Mother
Nature ( haha-naru shizen). In Late Old Japanese, tari adjectives developed as a variant of nari adjectives.
Most nari adjectives became na adjectives in Modern Japanese, while tari adjectives either died out or survived as taru
adjective fossils, but a few nari adjectives followed a similar path to the tari adjectives and became naru adjective fossils.
They are generally classed into rentaishi.

Attributives
Attributives (rentaishi) are few in number, and unlike the other words, are strictly limited to modifying nouns. Rentaishi
never predicate sentences. They derive from other word classes, and so are not always given the same treatment
syntactically. For example, ano (, "that") can be analysed as a noun or pronoun a plus the genitive ending no; aru (
or , "a certain"), saru (, "a certain"), and iwayuru (, "so-called") can be analysed as verbs (iwayuru
being an obsolete passive form of the verb iu () "to speak"); and kina ( , "big") can be analysed as the one
remaining form of the obsolete adjectival noun ki nari. Attributive onaji (, "the same") is sometimes considered to be
a rentaishi, but it is usually analysed as simply an irregular adjectival verb (note that it has an infinitive onajiku). The final
form onaji, which occurs with the copula, is usually considered to be a noun, albeit one derived from the adjectival verb.

It can be seen that attributives are analysed variously as nouns, verbs, or adjectival nouns.

Archaic forms

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Various archaic forms from Middle Japanese remain as fossils, primarily uses of -shi ( ) or -ki ( ) forms that in
Modern Japanese would usually be -i (). Everyday examples notably include yoshi (, good, ok) and nashi (,
nothing) in modern grammar yoi () and nai (), respectively. Similarly, furuki yoki (, good old (days
etc.)) uses archaic forms of furui (, old) and yoi (, good).

Inflection

i-adjective
Adjectival verbs (i-adjectives) are inflected by dropping the -i from the end and replacing it with the appropriate ending.
Adjectival verbs are made more polite by the use of desu. desu is added directly after the inflected plain form
and has no syntactic function; its only purpose is to make the utterance more polite (see Honorific speech in Japanese).

present past present neg. past neg.

i
atsui atsukatta atsuku nai atsuku nakatta
adjective

atsuku atsuku
polite i nai desu nakatta desu
adj. atsui desu atsukatta desu atsuku
atsuku arimasen arimasen deshita

ii "good" is a special case because it comes from the kanji yoi. In present tense it is read as ii but since it
derives from yoi all the inflections use that instead. For example, ii desu ne "[It] is good" becomes
yokatta desu ne "[It] was good". kakkoi "cool" also fits the same category because it is a mash-up of
kakkou and ii.[1]

i adjectives like yasui ("cheap") have the i changed to kereba to change them to conditional form, e.g.
yasukereba; yasukunakereba.

na-adjective
Adjectival nouns (na-adjectives) are inflected by dropping the -na and replacing it with the appropriate form of the verb
da, the copula. As with adjectival verbs, adjectival nouns are also made more polite by the use of desu. desu is
used in its role as the polite form of the copula, therefore replacing da (the plain form of the copula) in the plain form of
these adjectives.

present past present neg. past neg.

na hen hen hen dewa[i]

hen dewa nakatta
adjective da datta nai

polite na hen hen hen dewa

adj. hen desu deshita dewa arimasen arimasen deshita

i. The de wa in the conjugation of the copula is often contracted in speech to ja.

na adjectives have nara added to them to change to conditional form, and just like all other nai form
inflections, behave like an i adjective when in negative form, e.g. kantan ja nakereba.

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Adverb forms
Both adjectival verbs and adjectival nouns can form adverbs. In the case of adjectival verbs, i changes to ku:

atsuku naru "become hot"

and in the case of adjectival nouns, na changes to ni:

hen ni naru "become strange"

There are also some words like takusan and zenzen that are adverbs in their root form:

zenzenwakarimasen "[I have] absolutely no idea."

adverb

i adjective hayaku "quickly"

na adjective shizuka ni "quietly"

In a few cases, a form of a word is common while a form is rare or non-existent, as in makoto-ni ( ,
sincerely) makoto (, sincerity) is common, but

makoto-na (, sincere) is generally not used.

Terminology
Japanese Japanese
This page Other names
(kanji) (rmaji)
adjectival
keiyshi adjectival verbs, i-adjectives, adjectives, stative verbs
verbs

adjectival adjectival nouns,[a] na-adjectives, copular nouns, quasi-adjectives,

keiydshi
nouns nominal adjectives, adjectival verbs[a]
attributives rentaishi attributives, true adjectives, prenominals, pre-noun adjectivals

The Japanese word keiyshi is used to denote an English adjective.

Because the widespread study of Japanese is still relatively new in the Western world, there are no generally accepted
English translations for the above parts of speech, with varying texts adopting different sets, and others extant not listed
above.

Notes
a. In the traditional Japanese grammar, keiy-dshi, literally "adjective verb", includes the copula, while the adjectival
noun in the analysis shown here does not include it. For example, in the traditional grammar, kirei da is a keiy-dshi
and kirei is its stem; in the analysis here, kirei is an adjectival noun and kirei da is its combination with the copula.
Considering the copula is a kind of verb and kirei is a kind of noun syntactically, both names make sense.

References
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1. "Adjectives - Learn Japanese" (http://www.guidetojapanese.org/adjectives.html).

2. 3.11. Why are there so many adjectives ending in yaka? (http://www.sljfaq.org/afaq/yaka.html)
3. post by JimmySeal on 2007 October 06 (http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?pid=10230#p10230) in What on earth
is a adjective? (http://forum.koohii.com/viewtopic.php?id=862) at Reviewing the Kanji forum
4. A list of taru adjectives is given at: List of -taru Adjectives (http://blastitwonner.blogspot.com/2009/02/list-of-taru-adject
ives.html), Michael Panzer, BlastitWonner (http://blastitwonner.blogspot.com/), February 24, 2009
5. answer by Boaz Yaniv, 2011 Jun 13 (http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/1013/what-exactly-is-a-taru-adject
ive/1017#1017), to What exactly is a taru adjective (http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/1013/what-exactl
y-is-a-taru-adjective) at Japanese Language & Usage (http://japanese.stackexchange.com/), StackExchange
6. post by akibare on 2005-12-23 (http://linguaphiles.livejournal.com/2144558.html?thread=40448558#t40448558)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20120326155139/http://linguaphiles.livejournal.com/2144558.html?thread=404
48558) 2012-03-26 at the Wayback Machine. at -? (http://linguaphiles.livejournal.com/2144558.html?thread=404
48558) on linguaphiles forum

External links
Why does Japanese have two kinds of adjectives? (-i adjectives and -na adjectives) (http://japanese.stackexchange.c
om/questions/1008/why-does-japanese-have-two-kinds-of-adjectives-i-adjectives-and-na-adjectives), Boaz Yaniv,
2011 Jun 13, Japanese Language & Usage (http://japanese.stackexchange.com/), Stack Exchange

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