Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 6: 2/13

い-Adjective + です (Predicate)い-Adjective (Predicate)

Structure

Examples:
かわいい
新(あたら)しい
寒(さむ)い

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Adjective

  • Word Type

    Independent Word

  • Register

    Standard

About い-Adjective (Predicate)

A predicate is a word that describes the topic/subject of a sentence. The Japanese equivalent of this is a 述語(じゅつご), which literally means 'statement word'. As a predicate, い-Adjectives can appear by themselves (when the word they are describing does not need to be stated), or they may be used at the end of a sentence.

When there are no other words apart from the adjective itself, it comes across similar to 'It's cute', or 'It's hot', and similar expressions in English. We just have to guess what the 'it' is from context.

In many sentences, either は or が could be used to mark the word/words that the predicate is describing. However, which one sounds more natural will depend on many factors. In general, if you are specifically pointing out something as being different from other things in the same category, が will be used.

In this example, が is distinguishing this specific bath as having a unique level of hotness compared to others (maybe the water system is broken and only boiling water comes out). は would sound unnatural in this type of sentence, as it is not the 'normal' state of the bath.

Fun Fact

All い-Adjectives are words of Japanese origin.

Related

Examples

--:--

    暑(あつ)い。
    暑(あつ)いです。

    It is hot.

    寒(さむ)い。
    寒(さむ)いです。

    It is cold.

    これは楽(たの)しい。
    これは楽(たの)しいです。

    This is fun.

    猫(ねこ)はかわいい。
    猫(ねこ)はかわいいです。

    Cats are cute.

    私(わたし)の家(いえ)は近(ちか)い。
    私(わたし)の家(いえ)は近(ちか)いです。

    My house is near (by).

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      い-Adjective (Predicate) – Grammar Discussion

      Most Recent Replies (3 in total)

      • Haruto

        Haruto

        Hi there, new Japanese learner here. I just came across this sentence in the N5 grammar section. このお風呂ふろが熱あつい

        When I was at a sento in Kyoto last month, I was sitting in the cold bath for a minute and asked a couple locals in the adjacent bath, " その水は熱いですか？
        Sono mizu wa atsui desu ka?

        They chuckled and replied, 温かい!

        So my question is really, which sounds more natural, atsui desu, atatakai desu, or simply, attakai?

      • Daru

        Daru

        In this context, 熱い while correct in the hot nuance, to japanese ears it’ll sound as if you were asking something to “is the water scalding hot?”, the reply of 温かい is more along the lines of “it’s pleasantly warm!”

        It’s a minor thing, and rather than one sounding more natural over the other, it’s really about what they’re communicating.

      • Haruto

        Haruto

        Thank you!

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