
Once you get the hang of basic Japanese grammar structure, you will want to form more complex sentences. After all, you’re not going to master the Japanese language by just learning how to say “それはいぬです” (that is a dog). What happens if you want to say that the dog is cute? Or short? Or friendly? This is where Japanese adjectives come in: to make you express more, rather than just stating the obvious. (Sure, that is a dog, but what about it?)
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Japanese adjectives aren’t just used to describe physical appearance or behavior. They’re used as quantifiers — to express emotions and detail dimensions. They’re used to modify a noun. While they function similarly to English, the grammar rules of Japanese adjectives are a little bit complex, too.
This will be a self-study guide on Japanese adjectives, complete with example sentences. We’ll talk you through the two kinds of adjectives and how to use them, but if you want to get more support and direction from native instructors, we suggest you take a look at our online Japanese course.
Before we go further into the article, note that this article will mostly use hiragana, so prior knowledge of them is a must. If you’re still learning them, don’t worry — take a look at our hiragana chart to review them.
Tyes of Japanese Adjectives (And How to Use Them)
Japanese adjectives are categorized into two: な-adjectives and い-adjectives. Their main function is to describe nouns, but these adjectives can also be transformed into nouns themselves.
The easiest way to separate な-adjectives and い-adjectives is by checking the adjective’s ending. More precisely, if the word ends with い or not. Of course, this is a rule of the thumb, but there are exceptions you need to note as well. What you need to note are the grammar particles and changes (to past, negative or past-negative forms) — what’s required to join an adjective to a noun.
We’ll be introducing a few Japanese vocabularies, so make sure you know all the basic Japanese words before moving forward. We have like, a hundred of them (yes, literally).
To know all the Japanese adjectives, check out the 100 most common adjectives we’ve collected.

い-adjectives in Japanese
The い-adjective is easy to identify: they end in い and are written in hiragana. Some い-adjectives might also have a double い (いい), but its stem form will usually stay the same regardless of the form it takes.
In this case, we’ll be using the example 高い (たかい), which means high (height) or expensive (price). Briefly, this is how you will transform an い-adjective into different tenses and forms.
Form | Kanji | Hiragana | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|
Positive (Present) | 高い | たかい | High |
Negative (Present) | 高くない | たかくない | Not high |
Positive (Past) | 高かった | たかかった | Was high |
Negative (Present) | 高くなかった | たかくなかった | Was not high |
Present Tense for I-adjectives
To express an い-adjective in the present tense, simply let it take its original stem form and add an 〜い (already joined). A tricky thing to keep in mind is that the Japanese language doesn’t recognize present and future tense. Rather, they consider it one. Take a look at the sentence below.
今日の天気はいいです。
きょうのてんきはいいです。
The weather is nice today.
明日の天気はいいです。
あしたのてんきはいいです。
The weather (will be) nice tomorrow.
Negative (Present) Tense for I-adjectives
To make a present-tense い-adjective negative, replace the 〜い with 〜くない
さむい → さむくない
今日は寒くないです。
きょうはさむくないです。
It is not cold today.
Past Tense for I-adjectives
To express an い-adjective in the present tense, you must omit the 〜い from the word’s stem form and join it with a 〜かった.
たかい → たかかった
あの車が高かったです。
あのくるまがたかかったです。
That car was expensive.
Negative (Past) Tense for I-adjectives
For this, similar to negative and past adjectives, you can change the 〜い with a new conjugation, which is a combination of くない and かった: 〜くなかった.
たかい → たかくなかった
Exceptions and What You Need to Know for I-adjectives
Remember what we say about stem forms for adjectives will stay the same regardless of the form and tense it takes? There’s one exception to the rule: the Japanese adjective いい (good; well).
Why? The word, in its kanji form, is written 良い, which can also be read as よい (yoi). When it’s in a positive and present tense, you can use either one and it’ll be as fine (although よい has a more formal sound to it). However, when you want to transform the word to negative or past tense, the stem word becomes よ instead of い
Form | Kanji | Hiragana | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|
Positive (Present) | 良い | よい;いい | Good; well |
Negative (Present) | 良くない | よくない | Not good |
Positive (Past) | 良かった | よかった | Was good |
Negative (Present) | 良くなかった | よくなかった | Was not good |
The same thing can be said with かっこいい. When it becomes a negative form or past tense, the stem changes to よ. Instead of かっこいくない, change it to かっこよくない.
One last thing: also it seems like it, きれい (pretty or clean) and きらい (hate or dislike) is actually a na-adjective even though the word ends with い, so be careful!
野菜がきらくない。
Yasai ga kirakunai.
I don’t hate vegetables. (Wrong)
野菜がきらいじゃない。
Yasai ga kirai ja nai.
I don’t hate vegetables. (Correct)
Casual Form for I-adjectives
For the polite form of い-adjective, you will need to add the auxiliary verb of です. For negative and past adjective forms, follow the same conjugational transformation as well.
Form | Casual Form | Polite form | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|
Positive (Present) | よい | よい;いいです | Good; well |
Negative (Present) | よくない | よくないです | Not good |
Positive (Past) | よかった | よかったです | Was good |
Negative (Present) | よくなかった | よくなかったです | Was not good |
Making it a casual form is easier; simply remove the です and leave it as it is. However, note that this only applies when the adjective is put at the end of the sentence.
A lot of Japanese people will even shorten the adjective and omit the い. For example, when talking with friends in a good mood, people will say すげー instead of すごい to express something amazing, or うまー instead of うまい to compliment a very delicious meal.

な-adjectives in Japanese
Unlike い-adjectives, you can’t modify conjugations in な-adjectives directly to express tense or form. Instead, think of them as nouns (although they’re not, so be careful). This is because the way you modify its value is the same as how you would with nouns. What you want to do instead is to change the auxiliary verb of the whole sentence or phrase:です、ではありません、 でした or ではありませんでした.
The way you can identify a な-adjective is by looking at the particle attached to it: な. For example, 元気な人・げんきな人, which means a healthy (or happy, depending on the context) person. A lot of people find な-adjectives to be easier to learn because of their simple (and easy modification) rule.
Like い-adjectives, you can put a な-adjective before a noun. When you do so, the adjective-noun combination becomes the subject.
Adjective + な + Noun + です | ではありません | でした | ではありませんでした
You can also put a な-adjective at the end of a sentence. When that happens, the form is like this:
Adjective + です | ではありません | でした | ではありませんでした
In this case, we’ll be using the example 元気, which means happy or healthy. Briefly, this is how you will transform an な-adjective into different tenses and forms.
Present Tense for Na-adjectives
The most basic form of な-adjectives — meaning, positive value in the present tense — is followed by the auxiliary verb of です (polite) or だ (casual). Keep in mind that, similar to い-adjectives, present and future tense uses the same form. To describe a noun, you need to put the particle な in the middle of the adjective and the noun (hence, it’s called na-adjective). Take a look at the example below.
Form | Kanji | Hiragana | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|
Positive (Present) | 元気だ | げんきだ | Healthy; lively |
Negative (Present) | 元気じゃない | げんきじゃない | Not healthy; lively |
Positive (Past) | 元気だった | げんきだった | Was healthy; lively |
Negative (Present) | 元気じゃなかった | げんきじゃなかった | Was not healthy; lively |
好きな人は田中さんだ。
すきなひとはたなかさんだ。
The person I like is Tanaka-san.
As we mentioned before, the conjugation rules for な-adjectives are the same as nouns, so even when the adjective is put at the end of the sentence, you will still use だ.
田中さんが好きだ。
たなかさんがすきだ。
I like Tanaka-san.
Negative (Present) Tense for Na-adjectives
Similarly, too conjugate the auxiliary verb to get to the negative form for な-adjective, add 〜じゃありません. You can also use 〜ではありません that has the same meaning (negative value), but sounds more polite and is usually used in written Japanese.
To make it casual, you can shorten it into 〜じゃない or 〜ではない.
あのウェイターはお客さんに親切ではない。
あのウェイターはおきゃくさんにしんせつではない。
That waiter is not kind to guests.
あまり歌っていなくて、カラオケが上手じゃない。
あまりうたっていなくて、からおけがじょうずじゃない。
Because I don’t sing so much, I’m not good at karaoke.
You can also put a negative な-adjective before a noun.
元気じゃない人はカフェに入れません。
げんきじゃないひとはカフェにはいれません。
Unhealthy people are not allowed to enter the cafe.
Past Tense for Na-adjectives
To indicate that something was true before (and is not now), you will need to add だった (casual) or でした (polite) at the end of the sentence or phrase with a な-adjective.
あの歌手は有名な人だった。
あのかしゅはゆうめいなひとだった。
That person was once a famous singer.
子供の頃、お風呂が嫌いだった。
こどものころ、おふろがきらいだった。
When I was a kid, I hated taking a bath.
Negative (Past) Tense for Na-adjectives
As with previous Japanese adjective modification, to make a Na-adjective negative and in the past tense, simple add じゃありませんでした or ではありませんでした。
You can make it more casual by just transforming the auxiliary verb like this:
じゃありませんでした → じゃなかった
ではありませんでした → ではなかった
この街は静かじゃなかった。
このまちはしずかじゃなかった。
This town wasn’t peaceful (before).
リノベーションの前に、ホテルはきれいではありませんでした。
リノベーションのまえに、ホテルはきれいではありませんでした。
Before the renovation, the hotel wasn’t pretty.
Casual Form for Na-adjectives
We’ve touched up how to change polite forms to casual forms for な-adjective, but we’ve made a table to sum it all up.
Form | Casual Form | Polite Form |
---|---|---|
Positive (Present) | 元気だ | 元気です |
Negative (Present) | 元気じゃない | 元気じゃありません |
Positive (Past) | 元気だった | 元気でした |
Negative (Present) | 元気じゃなかった | 元気じゃありませんでした |
Exceptions and What You Need to Know for Na-adjectives
You can immediately modify な-adjectives into a negative value, past tense — or both and join it with a noun. However, keep in mind that this is only applicable if you use casual auxiliary verbs.
Here are a few examples:
元気じゃない人
Genki ja nai hito. (Correct)
元気じゃありません人
Genki ja arimasen hito. (Wrong)
元気だった人
Genki datta hito. (Correct)
元気でした人
Genki deshita hito. (Wrong)
Another thing to keep in mind is an exception: the Japanese adjective おなじ・同じ. Even though it is technically a な-adjective, you will have to remove the な when you combine it with a noun.
君は僕と同じな背の高さです。(Wrong)
きみはぼくとおなじなせのたかさです。
You are as tall as I am.
君は僕と同じ背の高さです。(Correct)
きみはぼくとおなじせのたかさです。
Learning to use and modify Japanese adjectives can be tricky, especially with the exceptions and grammar rules to remember. However, mastering the distinction between い-adjectives and な-adjectives will help you add more color and detail to your sentences.
Once you’ve learned some Japanese adjectives, we recommend practicing them with immersive Japanese listening conversations. Our Japanese podcasts are a great way to do this. Additionally, the NHK World Japan Audio Shows offer excellent listening practice for learners at any level.

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FAQ
What’s the difference between い-adjectives and な-adjectives?
い-adjectives directly modify nouns and change form based on tense, while な-adjectives require the particle な before a noun and use auxiliary verbs to change tense.
Can I use い-adjectives and な-adjectives interchangeably?
No, they follow different grammatical rules. Make sure to use them appropriately based on the sentence structure.
What are the exceptions to na-adjectives?
While most な-adjectives follow a consistent rule, there are a few notable exceptions to keep in mind:
- きれい (kirei) – Meaning “pretty” or “clean,” this adjective ends with い but is still considered a な-adjective. It requires the particle な when used before a noun (e.g., きれいな花 – a pretty flower.
- きらい(kirai) – Meaning “hate” or “dislike,” this adjective also ends in い but functions as a な-adjective. It uses the な particle when modifying a noun (e.g., きらいな食べ物 – a disliked foods.
- おなじ (onaji) – Meaning “same,” this adjective is usually a な-adjective, but when modifying a noun, the な particle is often omitted (e.g., 君は僕とおなじ背の高さです – You are the same height as me.
- だめ (dame) – Meaning “no good” or “unacceptable,” this adjective doesn’t require な when used before a noun in many cases (e.g., だめなこと – “a bad thing”).
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