Describe how food tastes with Japanese adjectives. Notice that 甘い and 辛い differ by more than one English label, and learn each word with a plausible food example.
Taste and overall evaluation are different
甘い describes sweetness, 酸っぱい sourness, and 苦い bitterness. 辛い often describes spicy heat, while しょっぱい describes a salty taste. おいしい gives a positive overall judgement; it does not tell the listener which flavour stands out.
A dish can have more than one quality. 甘くて酸っぱい describes something sweet and sour. 甘いけど、おいしい says it is sweet but tasty, with a contrast supplied by the speaker’s expectations. Do not add a contrast just because the English exercise contains two adjectives.
Make the evaluation your own
このスープは少ししょっぱいです makes a limited comment about this soup. 味が薄い can describe a mild or weak flavour rather than the physical thickness of a dish. These statements practise language; they do not make claims about how a named restaurant cooks.
Examples to read before you practise
Japanese | Reading / English |
|---|---|
甘い | あまい — sweet |
辛い | からい — spicy / hot |
酸っぱい | すっぱい — sour |
苦い | にがい — bitter |
しょっぱい | salty |
おいしい | delicious |
味が薄い | あじがうすい — mild / weak in flavour |
甘くて酸っぱい。 | It is sweet and sour. |
Try six questions
Try these self-check questions from memory, then compare your answers with the explanations. For automatic checking and saved progress, open the related practice after this article.
Sweet: dictionary adjective.
Sour: dictionary adjective.
Bitter: dictionary adjective.
Spicy: dictionary adjective from the table.
甘い → te form connecting adjectives
おいしい → plain past affirmative
Answer key and explanations
甘い / あまい — 甘い describes sweetness.
酸っぱい / すっぱい — Keep the small っ in 酸っぱい.
苦い / にがい — 苦い describes bitterness.
辛い / からい — 辛い describes spicy heat here.
甘くて / あまくて — An い-adjective connects with くて.
おいしかった — Replace the final い with かった.
Keep learning
Related lessons
Try what you have just read
Recognise the pattern, write an answer from memory, then use it in a short reading. Your existing progress carries over.
Open the three-step lessonSources
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