Put Japanese Adjectives Before Nouns

A Japanese adjective comes before the noun it describes. The connector depends on the adjective class: 新しい本 but 静かな部屋. A descriptive phrase is not a complete polite sentence, so です does not belong between the adjective and noun.

Formation and use

I-adjectives attach directly: 大きいかばん, おいしい料理. Retain final い. Do not insert な or の as a general-purpose link.

Na-adjectives use な in the non-past affirmative: 親切な先生, きれいな写真. Learn the class of the word, since きれい has a misleading final い sound.

Comparisons and common errors

Negative and past adjective phrases can also modify nouns: 高くない店, 昔好きだった歌. They describe the noun with that negative or past meaning; do not add a second な after 好きだった.

In 私は新しい本を買いました, the whole 新しい本 is the object marked by を. The sentence ending belongs to 買いました; the adjective phrase stays inside the noun phrase.

Practise with explanations

Try the 10 questions below, or open the practice set. Check each answer or the whole set, read the explanation, and retry mistakes. First-attempt results are kept separately on this device.

Connected lessons

• Japanese I-Adjectives: Negative and Past Forms
• Japanese Na-Adjectives: Na, Da, and Conjugation
• Japanese Relative Clauses: Put a Description Before a Noun