「〜さ」Indicate an amount with adjectives
「〜さ」Indicate an amount with adjectives
Indicate amount
さ is another one of those very useful and simple suffixes in Japanese. It transforms the meaning of an adjective to express the quantity of something. For example, in English, you may use heavy to describe something, but weight when referring to the amount of its heaviness. In Japanese, by contrast, a simple change from 重い to 重さ can express the same thing.
The process for い-adjectives is straightforward: attach さ to the stem of the い-adjective, which can be formed by removing the い.
重い → 重さ
Heavy → weight
この荷物の重さは想像以上だ。
The weight of this luggage is more than I expected.
彼の返事の遅さにはいつも困っている。
His slow replies are always a problem.
僕は、この本の面白さが分からない。
I don't know what's so interesting (interesting-ness) about this book.
For な-adjectives, just attach さ to the end.
敏感 → 敏感さ
sensitive → sensitivity
Time to look at some examples using this construct in a sentence.
その出来事が、家族の大切さを改めて教えてくれた。
That event reminded me once again of the importance of family.
子どもたちの元気さに、先生も驚いていた。
The teacher was surprised by the children's energy.
彼の料理の下手さは逆に面白かった。
His lack of cooking skill was actually kind of funny.
Formation
重さ
下手さ