Title

Plain Non-Past Form: No Conjugation

All Keiyōshi 形容詞 end in the vowel /i/ い. This has given rise to the name "i-adjectives イ形容詞" in many textbooks, which is also occasionally used by Japanese grammarians. This い attaches to the stem (gokan 語幹) of all adjectives, and it is dropped to create all other conjugations. 

This basic form of adjectives is used for the non-past form (hikakokei 非過去形), which we learned in Lessons 10-11 stands for both present tense (genzai jisei 現在時制) and future tense (mirai jisei 未来時制). In the case of adjectives, however, the non-past tense is only interpreted as the present tense unless other grammtical points/context intervenes. As a consequence of this, ALL non-past tense sentences in this lesson correspond to the present tense in English.

We have already seen this basic non-past (unconjugated) form used in Exs. 1-3 above with the adjective 新しい. The basic form is an amalgam of  the predicative form (終止形) and the attributive form (連体形). These forms are identical for adjectives, and so you can freely use the basic form either directly before nouns or at the end of the sentence.

Vocabulary Notes:

①Atsui 熱い means "hot" as in things whereas atsui 暑い means "hot" as in the weather. Both are enunciated with a LHL (low-high-low) pitch. 

②Atsui 厚い means "thick" and is enunciated with a LHH (low-high-high) pattern. 

③ In addition to meaning "spicy," karai 辛い may also mean "salty," especially for speakers from West Japan. IN Standard Japanese, "salty" is expressed with shiokarai 塩辛い. However, in literary language, it may still mean "salty" if written as 鹹い. Confusingly, the colloquial way to say "salty" in East Japan is shoppai しょっぱい.

④As an English speaker, you may be confused as to why hoshii 欲しい is in a list of adjectives if it means "to want," but in Japanese this word is an adjective. 

⑤Tsumetai 冷たい means "cold" as in things whereas samui 寒い means "cold" as in "weather." 冷たい may also refer to "cold" personalities. What about the air or wind? These are treated as objects and, thus, take 冷たい.

Ex. Tsumetai kūki 冷たい空気　(cold air)

Ex. Tsumetai kaze 冷たい風 (cold wind)

Ex. Tsumetai hyōjō 表情 (cold expression) 

⑥Furui 古い refers to the state of a thing/situation being "old," but it isn't used to refer to old age. 

⑦暖かい and 温かい are both read as atatakai. The first spelling is used in reference to the weather whereas the second spelling is used to refer to "warm" to the touch as well as in reference to emotion. In casual speech, it is pronounced as attakai あったかい.

⑧When used to mean "early/quick," hayai is spelled as 早い. When strictly referring to the speed of an object, it may be spelled as 速い.
⑨When referring to the height of a person, takai 高い must be used in the set phrase se ga takai 背が高い. 

⑩Hikui 低い may refer to "low" as in rank, value, quality, position to the ground, etc. Although it may mean  "short" as in height, it must be used in the set phrase se ga hikui 背が低い.

1. クマは強い。
Kuma wa tsuyoi.
Bears are strong.

2. 人間は弱い生き物だ。
Ningen wa yowai ikimono da.
Humans are weak creatures.

3. 南米は暑い！
Nambei wa atsui!
South America is hot!

4. 手が熱い。
Te ga atsui.
My/your hands are hot.

5. あれは古い電話だ。
Are wa furui denwa da.
That is an old phone.

6. 水が冷たい。
Mizu ga tsumetai.
The water is cold.

7. 冬は寒い！
Fuyu wa samui!
Winter is cold!

8. あの店は安い。
Ano mise wa yasui.
That store is cheap (affordable).

How to make the non-past tense polite is easy yet riddled in controversy. In Modern Japanese, the solution is simply to add -desu です after the adjective, using it purely as a politeness marker. This grammar has only been around for a little over a century, but is has fully replaced the older grammar which we will eventually get to when we learn about honorific speech.

It must be noted that because desu です lacks an attributive form (連体形), it may also not modify a noun even when it is with an adjective. Always expect any form of desu です to be at the end of a sentence.

Romanization Note: -desu です is seen hyphenated to indicate that it is stuck onto the adjective as a politeness marker. Hyphenation in general serves to show that an affix (ending) is inseparable in that context.

Vocabulary Notes:

①近い can be used in both a spatial and temporal sense. It can also be used to refer to "close" relationships and "close" relatives. It may also be used to describe degree. It is also used in the phrase for "to be nearsighted," which is me ga chikai 目が近い. 

②遠い can be used in both a spatial and temporal sense, refer to "distant" relationships and relatives, and "far (from)" in the sense of degree. It can refer to distant sounds and is also used in the phrase for "to be farsighted," which is me ga tōi 目が遠い.

③Itai 痛い means "painful," but it also is used in situations where English speakers would likely use the verb "to hurt." It is also the interjection used for "ouch." Be careful with intonation. It should be pronounced with a LHL intonation. A LHH intonation results in the noun 遺体 meaning "dead body."

12. 公園が近いです。
Kōen ga chikai-desu.
There is a park is nearby.

13. 景色が美しいです。
Keshiki ga utsukushii-desu.
The scenery is beautiful.

14. 仕事は楽しいです。
Shigoto wa tanoshii-desu.
(My) work is fun. 

15. 足が痛いです！
Ashi ga itai-desu!
My feet hurt!

Vocabulary Notes:

①When used to mean "delicious," oishii may also be spelled as 美味しい. It also has the meaning of "attractive" in the sense of "favorable." 

②Mazui まずい means "bad" as in flavor, in which case it may also be spelled as 不味い. When used to mean "bad" as in "unskillful," it may be spelled as 拙い. It can also refer to "bad/awkward" situations, and in this situation, it is often used in the sense of "oh, no!"

③Usui 薄い is "thin" in relation to objects but never people, but it ironically can be used to refer to "thin/slim" chance. It may also refer to colors being "pale" or something being "dilute(d)" in a liquid. From this last meaning it can also mean "weak" as in taste. Think coffee. 
④Koi 濃い refers to the thickness (depth) of color, the thickness (density) of liquids, or the thickness (strength) of flavors, smells, possibilities, or relationships. Unlike atsui 厚い, it is never used to refer to the thickness of physical objects. Also, most speakers in West and South Japan pronounce this word as koyui 濃ゆい.

16. ラーメンは美味しかったです。
Ramen wa oishikatta-desu.
The ramen was delicious.

17. 仕事が忙しかった。
Shigoto ga isogashikatta.
Work was busy.

18. あの映画は楽しかったです。
Ano eiga wa tanoshikatta-desu.
That movie was fun.

19. 彼が優しかった。
Kare ga yasashikatta.
He was kind.

20. 長谷川先生は厳しかったです。
Hasegawa-sensei wa kibishikatta-desu.
Hasegawa-sensei was strict.

21. 道が狭かったです。
Michi ga semakatta-desu.
The street(s) were narrow.

22. 元から成功の望みは薄かった。
Moto kara seikō no nozomi wa usukatta.
There was slim hope of success from the start.

23. 病院食はまずかったです。
Byōinshoku wa mazukatta-desu.
The hospital meals were awful.

24. 味は若干濃かったです。
Aji wa jakkan kokatta-desu.
The flavor was somewhat strong.

25. （お）弁当が美味しかった話
(O)bentō ga oishikatta hanashi
Talk of the bento having been delicious. 

Grammar Note: The prefix o お- is attached to a number of nouns to make them sound softer/politer.  

※Adjectives actually have two continuative forms. The kari- form is actually a contraction of the basic one ku- + the existential verb aru ある. 

①Hosoi 細い means "thin" as in "slender" and may be used in reference to people.
②Futoi 太い means "thick" as in "fat" and may also refer to a person's voice being "thick."

③Do not pronounce kawaii かわいい the same way as kowai 怖い. They are clearly separate words.
④Kowai 怖い may translate as "scary" or "scared," but this is due to the Japanese grammar being simpler than English. The word is only used from a personal perspective, so you yourself are scared of things that are scary.
⑤Words such as kanashii 悲しい and ureshii 嬉しい are by default first-person in nature. They may be used in second-person questions, but as for third person, they get changed up a bit. 

Negation is not limited to the predicative form (終止形). Meaning, you can use the negative form of an adjective in its attributive form (連体形). There is no change in morphology, but you can see a negative adjective be a part of a much larger dependent clause modifying a noun. 

26. 僕は蛇が怖くないよ。
Boku wa hebi ga kowakunai yo.
I'm not scared of snakes.
As for me, snakes aren't scary.

27. あの猫はかわいくはないよ。
Ano neko wa kawaiku-wa-nai yo.
That cat isn't cute (but does fit another description).

28. 僕は悲しくない。
Boku wa kanashikunai.
I'm not sad.

29. 操作は難しくない。
Sōsa wa muzukashikunai. 
Operating it isn't difficult.

30. 難しくない点もメリットのひとつです。
Muzukashikunai ten mo meritto no hitotsu desu.
The point of it not being difficult is also one of its merits.

Vocabulary Note: Aoi 青い may be used in both the sense of "blue" and "green." The reasons for this are somewhat complicated, so we'll study more about this later when we cover color expressions.

Grammar Note: None of these forms are used in the attributive form because desu です CANNOT modify nouns.

31. 川は青くはないです。
Kawa wa aoku-wa-nai-desu.
The river is not blue (but another color would describe the color better).

32. 信号は青くないです。
Shingō wa aokunai-desu.
The light is not green.

33. あのリンゴは赤くありません。
Ano ringo wa akaku-arimasen.
That apple is not red.

34. その答えは正しくないです。
Sono kotae wa tadashikunai-desu.
That answer isn’t correct.

35 私は背が低くありません。
Watashi wa se ga hikuku-arimasen.
I am not short.

Vocabulary Notes: 

①Amai 甘い may also mean "fragrant" and is generally also treated as the opposite of karai 辛い. The word may also be figuratively used to mean "tempting," "half-hearted," "naive," etc. 
②Kitanai 汚い may also mean "dirty" as in "indecent/vulgar" language as well as "underhanded."

Grammar Note:

The plain negative-past form may be used in both the attributive form and the predicative form. It is more common to see the negative-past in the attributive form when it is a part of a larger modifying, dependent clause. However, this is not a requirement. 

36. このパソコンは安くなかった。
Kono pasokon wa yasukunakatta.
This computer wasn’t cheap.

37. 給料は高くなかった。
Kyūryō wa takakunakatta.
The salary wasn’t/wages weren’t high.

38. その城は白くなかった。
Sono shiro wa shirokunakatta.
That castle wasn’t white.

39．葉っぱは茶色くなかった。
Happa wa chairokunakatta.
The leaves weren’t brown.

40. タイヤは黒くなかった。
Taiya wa kurokunakatta.
The tire(s) weren’t black.

41. 今回はそこまで甘くはなかった。
Konkai wa soko made amaku-wa-nakatta.
This time it wasn't so sweet like that.

42. 天気はあまり良くなかった。
Tenki wa amari yokunakatta.
The weather wasn't that good.

43. 私の成績が悪かった理由
Watashi no seiseki ga warukatta riyū  
The reason why my grades were bad

Just as there were two methods to making an adjective negative in polite speech, there are also two methods to conjugating an adjective into negative past (was not) in polite speech.

• Method 1: Simply attach desu です to -kunakatta くなかった, giving -kunakatta-desu くなかったです. This is proper enough for general conversation.
• Method 2: The politer method involves the past tense form of arimasen ありません, which is arimasen-deshita ありませんでした, producing -ku arimasen-deshita くありませんでした.  Its breakdown will make more sense when we learn about verbs, so we'll forego that discussion for now.