Adjetives and Adverbs

Adjectives and Adverbs

There are two different types of words that can be used to modify nouns and verbs. One group is much like what we would call an adjective but they can also modify verbs as well. We will refer to these as "dv". The other group can, in most cases, stand alone like a noun but can also be used to modify nouns and verbs. We will refer to these as "dn". All words in the "dv" group always end with い (i). No exceptions. This is placed in front of a noun in order to modify it. For example:

漢字 - Kanji ひらがな - Hiragana Romaji (English Letters) English Meaning 赤い車 あかいくるま akai kuruma red car

These words can be conjugated to form different tenses, modify verbs, etc. Here is how that is done:

ひらがな - Hiragana Romaji (English Letters) English Meaning drop the い and add く drop the "i" and add "ku" modifies a verb (akaku natta -> became red) (naru is the verb "to become") drop the い and add くない drop the "i" and add "kunai" present tense negative (akakunai -> is not red) drop the い and add かった drop the "i" and add "katta" past tense (akakatta -> was red) drop the い and add くなかった drop the "i" and add "kunakatta" past tense negative (akakunakatta -> was not red) (This one might take a little practice saying.)

It's not as easy to recognize a "dn" but I will point them out in the vocabulary lists. Sometimes you'll even find a "dn" that ends in い (i) (ex. kirei - pretty). As mentioned before, these words can, in most cases, be used by themselves like a noun (ex. shizen - nature). By adding a な (na) to the end of these words they can be used to modify a noun (ex. shizen na kankyou -> a natural environment). And by adding a に (ni) to the end of these words they can be used to modify a verb as an adverb (ex. shizen ni aruku -> to walk naturally).

Here's a list of some commonly used "dv" and "dn":

漢字 - Kanji	ひらがな - Hiragana	Romaji (English Letters)	English Meaning
赤い	あかい	akai (dv)	red
黄色い	きいろい	kiiroi (dv)	yellow
青い	あおい	aoi (dv)	blue
黒い	くろい	kuroi (dv)	black
白い	しろい	shiroi (dv)	white
面白い	おもしろい	omoshiroi (dv)	interesting, funny
暑い	あつい	atsui (dv)	hot
寒い	さむい	samui (dv)	cold
大きい	おおきい	ookii (dv)	big
小さい	ちいさい	chiisai (dv)	small
自然	しぜん	shizen (dn)	nature
綺麗	きれい	kirei (dn)	pretty, clean
失礼	しつれい	shitsurei (dn)	rude
静か	しずか	shizuka (dn)	quiet
特別	とくべつ	tokubetsu (dn)	special
元気	げんき	genki (dn)	in good spirits
変	へん	hen (dn)	weird, strange
上手	じょうず	jouzu (dn)	skillful
親切	しんせつ	shinsetsu (dn)	kind, nice
素敵	すてき	suteki (dn)	"cool", good looking

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