い-adjectives
JLPT N5:adjectives ending in い
Adjectives that end in い and change that ending for the negative and past, like 高い (expensive) and 面白い (interesting).
How to form it
- Before a noun, use the adjective as it is: 大きい犬 (a big dog).
- At the end of a sentence, add です to be polite: 面白いです. In casual speech use it alone, never with だ.
- To conjugate, drop the final い and add くない for the negative, かった for the past, くて to join to what follows, and く to make an adverb.
- いい (good) uses よ for every changed form: よくない, よかった.
Examples
Example sentences
この本は面白いです。
This book is interesting.
昨日は寒かった。
It was cold yesterday.
Notes
- きれい (pretty, clean) and 嫌い (disliked) end in い, but they are な-adjectives.
Common mistakes
- Adding な before a noun. Say 高い車, not 高いな車.
Similar meaning
- な-adjectivesadjectives that take な
Adjectives that take な before a noun and conjugate like nouns: 静かな部屋.