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Japanese - Grammar Points

い-Adjectives, but negative

い-Adjectives, but negative

Negative descriptor

The negative form of い-adjectives can be used to express that something does not have a certain quality.

To form the negative of an い-adjectives, simply remove the い and add くない. That's it!

(はや) → (はや)くない

Fast → not fast

There is one exception to this rule: the い-adjective いい good. In its negative form, it does not conjugate to いくない, but to よくない. This is because the origin of the word was よい good, which changed over time to also be read as いい. All conjugations are still based on the original form.

Special Note

良い can therefore be read as いい or よい.

い-adjectives can appear at the end of a sentence, often in the pattern AB, where A is the noun being described and B is the い-adjective.

あの(みせ)()ったケーキ(あま)くない

The cake I bought in that store isn't sweet.

Just like their dictionary form, negative い-adjectives can also be placed in front of the nouns they describe.

美味(おい)しくない(ばん)(はん)()べないです

I don't eat a dinner that isn't delicious.

Special Note

The い-adjectives stem refers to the part of the い-adjectives that remains after removing the い. For example, the stem of うつくしい is うつくし.

Formation

い-Adjectives-Stem + くない

おいしくない

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