i-adjectives i-adjectives end with い
(i) (but never えい,
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.
i-adjectives are considered verbs because they inflect with the
same bases as verbs and their respective usages: irrealis (未然形 '
), continuative (連用形 '), terminal (終止形 '
), attributive (連体形 '), hypothetical (仮定形 '
), and imperative (命令形 '). Among the six bases of verbs for
i-adjectives, there exist two sets of inflection paradigms: a "plain" or "true" conjugation, and what is known as a
kari-conjugation (カリ活用 '
), which is the result of the contraction between the "plain" continuative form 〜く (') and the verb あり (有り, 在り) ''
, meaning "to exist", "to have", or "to be". Due to this, the kari
-conjugation paradigm resembles that of the r''-irregular conjugation paradigm (ラ行変格活用 '
) of あり ', however the hypothetical (historically the 已然形 '
) is 〜けれ ' instead of 〜かれ '''' (used historically, and also the imperative base). The stem of
i-adjectives can combine (prepend on the left), similar to the continuative form 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 (noun +
i-adjective), and (
i-adjective stem +
i-adjective); while (
i-adjective stem + verb stem) shows an adjective stem joining to form a noun.
shii-adjectives A number of
i-adjectives end in (sometimes written
-sii). These are overwhelmingly words for feelings, like or . These were originally a separate class of adjectives, dating at least to Old Japanese (see
Old Japanese adjectives), where the two classes are known as and , corresponding to
-i and
-shii. However, they merged over the course of Late Middle Japanese (see
Late Middle Japanese adjectives), and now
shii-adjectives are simply a form of
i-adjectives. The distinction, although no longer meaningful in pronunciation, is still reflected by the writing system, where し is still written out in hiragana, as in . Adjectives that end in
-jii (〜じい) are also considered
-shii adjectives, such as , and historically , which was initially a
-shii adjective, and the classical negative volitional auxiliary .
na-adjectives na-adjectives always occur with a form of the
copula, traditionally considered part of the
na-adjective itself. The only syntactical difference between nouns and
na-adjective is in the attributive form, where nouns take の
(no) and adjectives take な
(na). This has led many linguists to consider them a type of
nominal (noun-like part of speech). Through use of inflected forms of the copula, these words can also predicate sentences and inflect for past, negative, etc. Notably,
na-adjectives are distinct from regular nouns, in that they cannot be used as the topic, subject, or object. To function in these roles, the
na-adjectives must include the nominalizing suffix , broadly similar to the English suffix
-ness that is used to create nouns from adjectives.
-yaka na adjectives There are a number of
na-adjectives ending in 〜やか
(-yaka), particularly for subjective words (compare
i-adjectives ending in
-shii). This is believed to be a combination of the two suffixes 〜や
(-ya) and 〜か
(-ka), where 〜や meant "softness" and 〜か meant "apparent, visible" (similar to modern 〜そう,
-sō, which is also followed by 〜な), hence the combination 〜やか 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. In some cases the original word is now only used (or almost always used) in the 〜やか form, such as 鮮やか
(aza-yaka, "vivid, brilliant"), 穏やか (
oda-yaka, "calm, gentle"), and 爽やか
(sawa-yaka, "fresh, clear"), while in other cases the word is used in isolation, such as 雅
(miyabi, "elegant, graceful"), which is used alongside 雅やか
(miyabi-yaka, "elegant, graceful"), and in other cases a related word also exists, such as 賑やか
(nigi-yaka, "bustling, busy") and the verb 賑わう
(nigi-wau, "be bustling, be busy"). The most basic of these is 賑やか
(nigi-yaka, "bustling, busy"), but many of these are everyday words. Due to the 〜やか being originally a suffix, it is written as
okurigana, even though the compound word may now be a fixed unit.
-raka na adjectives Similarly, there are also a few
na-adjectives ending in 〜らか
(-raka), of similar origin. These are generally less subjective, but declined in popularity relative to the 〜やか construction in the Heian period instead of the 〜な (
-na) and 〜に
(-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 〜と, and
Japanese sound symbolisms generally take a (sometimes optional) 〜と, though these are different word classes. There are very few of these words, 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 堂々 (
dōdō, "magnificent, stately"). These are referred to in Japanese as ト・タル形容動詞 (
to, taru keiyōdōshi) or タルト型活用 (
taruto-kata katsuyō – “taru, to form conjugation”). See
形容動詞#「タルト」型活用 for discussion in Japanese. Historically, these
developed in Late Old Japanese as a variant of
na-adjectives, but the form mostly died out; the remaining
taru-adjectives are
fossils, and conjugationally defective, having formerly held the pattern of the r-irregular class, like its component あり.
naru-adjectives There are also a few '
-adjectives such as 単なる (', "mere, simple") or 聖なる
(seinaru, "holy"), which developed similarly to
taru-adjectives. As with
taru-adjectives, these cannot predicate or take the copula, but must modify a noun (though generally not a verb – many of these only modify nouns via なる, not verbs via ×に), and often occur in set phrases, such as . 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 attributives.
Attributives Attributives are few in number, and unlike the other words, are strictly limited to modifying nouns. Attributives never predicate sentences. They derive from other word classes, and so are not always given the same treatment syntactically. For example,
ano (あの, "that") can be analysed as a noun or pronoun あ
(a) plus the genitive ending の
(no);
aru (ある or 或る, "a certain"), '
(さる, "a certain"), and ' (いわゆる, "so-called") can be analysed as verbs (
iwayuru being an obsolete passive form of the verb
iu (言う) "to speak"); and
ōkina (大きな, "big") can be analysed as the one remaining form of the obsolete adjectival noun '
. Attributive ' (同じ, "the same") is sometimes considered to be an attributive, but it is usually analysed as simply an irregular adjectival verb (note that it has an adverbial form '
). The final form ', 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 Various archaic forms from
Middle Japanese remain as fossils, primarily uses of or forms that in Modern Japanese would usually be . Everyday examples notably include and – in modern grammar and , respectively. Similarly, uses archaic forms of and . ==Inflection==