Adjectives: past, linking and adverbs
With the adjective forms you go from saying “it's expensive” to actually describing. Past い: 高かった; past negative: 高くなかった. Linking two adjectives: the first い becomes くて (安くておいしい) and な becomes で (親切できれい). Turning it into an adverb: い → く (早く歩く), な → に (静かに話す). And the change of state with なる follows the same rule: 難しくなる, 上手になる. It all hangs on the same pivot: an い-adjective mutates its い, a な-adjective behaves like a noun. If you know which class a word is, you need not memorise any table.
Where this sits
- Comes after
- い and な adjectives
Exercises from this rung
Generated by the app, from easiest to hardest
もっと___話してください。
- 静かに
- 静かな
- 静かく
- 静かで
Why な → に for the adverb. 静かに話す is to speak calmly or softly, and it is a request heard daily on a Japanese train.
easierこの料理は___おいしいです。
- 安いと
- 安いで
- 安くで
- 安くて
Why To link two adjectives, the first い becomes くて. It is the same idea as the て form of verbs: connect without closing the sentence. And と will not do, as it only joins nouns.
in betweenこの部屋は広___、明るいです。
- くて
- かって
- いで
- くで
Why The くて links without closing the sentence, just as the て form does for verbs. And to chain a negative: 広くなくて, “it isn't spacious, and…”.
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