Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 10: 5/12

のが下手(へた)

To be bad at, Poor at, Unskillful

Structure Legend

Structure

Verb + + 下手(へた)

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Expression

  • Word Type

    Adjectival Noun

  • Register

    Standard

  • 品詞

    表現

  • 単語の種類

    形容動詞

  • 使用域

    一般

About のがへた

~のが下手(へた) is a phrase that behaves in almost exactly the same way as ~のが上手(じょうず), but rather than meaning 'to be good at (A)', it means 'to be bad at (A)', (which is a much more handy expression, if you are like me!). This particular expression is used with the plain (dictionary) form of verbs only.
  • (わたし)漢字(かんじ)(おし)のが下手(へた)
    I am bad at teaching kanji.
  • (かれ)運転(うんてん)するのが下手(へた)です
    He is bad at driving.
In these examples, we can see that there is no difference between Ichidan verbs and Godan verbs. Both will appear in their plain form. In this expression, のが is performing the same function as in the regular のは, and のが constructions. This function is nominalization (turning a phrase into a noun). However, のは cannot be used with this phrase, as is always required with adjectives.
Caution
If you want to express that you were bad at something (in the past), the verb will still remain in the plain form, but 下手(へた) will change to the past tense.
  • 去年(きょねん)まで料理(りょうり)するのが下手(へた)だった
    Until last year, I was bad at cooking.

Examples

  • (わたし)チェスするのが下手(へた)

    I'm bad at chess.

  • カタカナ(おぼ)えるのが下手(へた)

    I'm poor at remembering Katakana.

  • サッカーするのが下手(へた)です

    I'm bad at playing soccer.

  • 彼女(かのじょ)勉強(べんきょう)するのが下手(へた)

    She is bad at studying.

  • (かれ)漢字(かんじ)()のが下手(へた)

    He is bad at writing kanji.

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    • みんなの日本語 II

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のがへた – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (8 in total)

  • Melanthe

    Melanthe

    About 4 years ago

    With “I’m not good at remembering katakana”, why is のがへただ not a correct answer? It only accepts のがへた, but I thought へた is a な-adjective and therefore だ can be used in casual sentences?

  • Pushindawood

    Pushindawood

    About 4 years ago

    @Melanthe Sorry about that! Looks like we were missing the alternative answer for this review question. Thank you for drawing this to our attention so that we could get it fixed. Cheers!

  • Myria

    Myria

    About 1 year ago

    かれは、自転車じてんしゃのがへただろう。

    I think it should be 自転車に乗る? Or is this a recent development where both を and に are starting to get feasible for 乗る.

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