Learn how to use the sentence pattern "A is [adjective]"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, I'm Eric. |
| Risa: And I'm Risa. |
| Eric: And welcome to Must-Know Japanese Sentence Structures, Season 1, Lesson 2 - Using Adjectives to Describe. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use a sentence pattern for describing something using an adjective. |
| PATTERN |
| Eric: For example, |
| Eric: "This is delicious." |
| Risa: これはおいしいです。 (Kore wa oishii desu.) |
| Risa: [slow] これはおいしいです。 (Kore wa oishii desu.) |
| Eric: The pattern for describing something using an adjective has 4 elements. First, a pronoun meaning "this". |
| Risa: これ (Kore). |
| Eric: Second, a topic marking particle, literally meaning "as for". |
| Risa: は (wa). |
| Eric: Third, an adjective meaning "delicious". |
| Risa: おいしい (oishii). |
| Eric: And last, a linking verb meaning "to be", in this case, "am". |
| Risa: です (desu). |
| Eric: Altogether, we have... "This is delicious." |
| Risa: これはおいしいです。 (Kore wa oishii desu.) [slow] これはおいしいです。 (Kore wa oishii desu.) [normal] これはおいしいです。 (Kore wa oishii desu.) |
| Eric: To describe “Noun A is an Adjective” in Japanese, you just use |
| Risa: は (wa) |
| Eric: to connect Noun A, in this case |
| Risa: これ (kore) |
| Eric: and an adjective, in this case |
| Risa: おいしい (oishii) |
| Eric: Finally, you can put the linking verb |
| Risa: です (desu) |
| Eric: at the end. |
| Risa: これはおいしいです。 (Kore wa oishii desu.) |
| Eric: So remember to describe something using an adjective, use the topic marking particle |
| Risa: は (wa) |
| Eric: to connect noun A with an adjective and then add a linking verb |
| Risa: です (desu) |
| Eric: at the end. “A” wa “adjective” desu. |
| Eric: Here is another example meaning, "I'm happy." First, pronoun meaning "I". |
| Risa: 私 (Watashi). |
| Eric: Second, a topic marking particle, literally meaning "as for". |
| Risa: は (wa). |
| Eric: Third, an adjective meaning "happy". |
| Risa: うれしい (ureshii). |
| Eric: And last, a linking verb meaning "to be", in this case, "am." |
| Risa: です (desu). |
| Eric: Altogether we have.. |
| Risa: 私はうれしいです。 (Watashi wa ureshii desu.) [slow] 私はうれしいです。 (Watashi wa ureshii desu.) [normal] 私はうれしいです。 (Watashi wa ureshii desu.) |
| Eric: "I'm happy." |
| [pause] |
| Risa: 私はうれしいです。 (Watashi wa ureshii desu.) |
| Eric: How do you say - "Kaori is kind." To give you a hint, "kind" is.. |
| Risa: 優しい (yasashii). [slow] 優しい (yasashii). [normal] 優しい (yasashii). |
| Eric: “Kaori is kind.” |
| [pause] |
| Risa: かおりさんは優しいです。 (Kaori-san wa yasashii desu.) [slow] かおりさんは優しいです。 (Kaori-san wa yasashii desu.) [normal] かおりさんは優しいです。 (Kaori-san wa yasashii desu.) |
| [pause] |
| Risa: かおりさんは優しいです。 (Kaori-san wa yasashii desu.) |
| REVIEW |
| Eric: Let's review the sentences from this lesson. I will give you the English equivalent of the phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud in Japanese. Here we go. |
| Eric: "This is delicious." |
| [pause] |
| Risa: これはおいしいです。 (Kore wa oishii desu.) |
| [pause] |
| Risa: これはおいしいです。 (Kore wa oishii desu.) |
| Eric: "I'm happy." |
| [pause] |
| Risa: 私はうれしいです。 (Watashi wa ureshii desu.) |
| [pause] |
| Risa: 私はうれしいです。 (Watashi wa ureshii desu.) |
| Eric: "Kaori is kind." |
| [pause] |
| Risa: かおりさんは優しいです。 (Kaori-san wa yasashii desu.) |
| [pause] |
| Risa: かおりさんは優しいです。 (Kaori-san wa yasashii desu.) |
Outro |
|---|
| Eric: Okay. That's all for this lesson. You learned a pattern for describing something using an adjective, as in.. |
| Risa: これはおいしいです。 (Kore wa oishii desu.) |
| Eric: meaning "This is delicious." |
| Eric: You can find more vocab or phrases that go with this sentence pattern in the lesson notes. So please be sure to check them out at JapanesePod101.com. Thanks everyone, see you next time! |
| Risa: じゃ、また。(Ja, mata.). |
15 Comments
HideTry describing what you have in front of you now.
Hi Martin,
Thank you for your question!
I'm sorry for the late reply.
Yes, you could say both.
They are slightly different in a grammatical point.
When you say JPod101はレッスンがべんりです, the subject is "JPod101",
and when you say JPod101のレッスンはべんりです, the subject is "JPod101のレッスン"
So the difference is depending on what you are talking about; "JPod101" or "JPod101のレッスン”.
However, the actual meaning is almost the same.
Hope you are enjoying studying with us!
Sincerely,
Miho
Team JapanesePod101.com
JPod101はレッスンがべんりです。
btw - what the difference between saying JPod101のレッスンはべんりです and JPod101はレッスンがべんりです？
Or キリンは首が長いです vs キリンの首は長いです？ Can I say both? And are meanings the same?
こんにちは、Random passer byさん
コメントありがとうございます！
そうですか。かっこいいですね?
Miki(美希)
Team JapanesePod101.com
コンピュータはくろです.
Konnichiwa, Leo-san
Komento arigatō gozaimasu!
Yoku dekimashita? Well done.
Please note that "nōto" and "gitā" have long vowels in them.
Keep studying with JapanesePod101.com
Cheers,
Miki(美希)
Team JapanesePod101.com
Noto wa midori desu
Gitaa wa chairoi desu
Watashi no te wa chiisai desu
Hi Walt,
Thank you for your comment!
There is not a clear difference.
However, some linguists insist there is a difference. They say "小さな"(連体詞) tends to be used for absolute sizes subjectively, while "小さい" tends to be used for comparative sizes objectively. People don't normally care the difference though.
In addition, "小さな"(連体詞) tends to be used for non-physical sizes. Let me show you some example;
そんなことは小さな問題にすぎない。=That's just a small/minor problem.
私には大きな夢がある。=I have a big dream.
In these cases, we prefer "小さな/大きな" to "小さい/大きい", I don't think "小さい/大きい" is not incorrect though.
Please let us know if you have any further questions?
Keep studying with JapanesePod101.com
Regards,
Miki（美希）
Team JapanesePod101.com
Thank you for your replies to my questions. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that your first comment answers my question.
We agree that both “小さい” and “小さな” are grammatically acceptable, although only the former is actually an adjective. It it also clear that “小さな” (連体詞) is not conjugated like verbs and adjectives (形容詞). So let me rephrase my question.
Suppose that both “小さい” and “小さな” could be used correctly to modify a noun in a sentence. How does one choose which word to use?
More generally, given any word which could be used in either the 形容詞 or the 連体詞 form in a sentence, how does one decide which form to use?
敬具,
ウヲルター
Hi Walt,
Thank you for your comment!
Both "小さい" and "小さな" are correct. Grammatically, "小さい" is an adjective（形容詞） while "小さな" is "連体詞" which is often translated "adnominal noun" (or "participial adjective"). It is said there are no equivalent parts to "連体詞" in English.
"連体詞" modifies nouns, but it is not conjugated unlike adjective, verb, and so on.
As for おおすぎる（多すぎる）, it means "too many/much" whereas ”大きすぎる" means "too big".
Please let us know if you have any questions?
Keep studying with JapanesePod101.com
Cheers,
Miki(美希)
Team JapanesePod101.com
The PDF has the sample sentence "この小さなオフィスにそのつくえは大きすぎます。" How does one decide between 小さい and 小さな in sentences like this? In other words, when should one use 小さい, and when should one use 小さな? Is the decision purely grammatical, or is it a matter of style? Please explain.
Also, I have heard the phrase "おおすぎます". How did you choose between "大きすぎます" and "おおすぎます"?