Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 1: 9/12

良(い)いい-Adjective meaning 'good'

よく can also mean 'frequently/often', and has several different potential kanji

Structure

Non-Past Form: いい
Non-Past Negative Form: よくない
Past Form: よかった
Past Negative Form: よくなかった

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Adjective

  • Word Type

    Independent Word

  • Register

    Standard

About いい

いい is an adjective that means 'good' in Japanese. It can be a little bit difficult to use at first, as it conjugates differently to other い-Adjectives.

In these sentences, we can see that the first い in いい changes to よ, depending on the form. This is unique to いい, and does not happen with other adjectives.

いい can sometimes be seen as 良(よ)い, in these cases, the kanji is likely to be read as よい, and not いい. There is technically no difference between these two meanings, but よい does sound more formal/old-fashioned.

Caution

When used as an adverb, よく should not be confused as a conjugation of いい. よく has several possible kanji that it may stem from, and means frequently/often/well.

Examples

--:--

    いいです。

    (It is) good.

    これはいいです。

    This is good.

    これはいい本(ほん)です。

    This is a good book.

    これもいい本(ほん)です。

    This is also a good book.

    これはいい音(おと)だ。

    This is a good sound.

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        • みんなの日本語 I

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      いい – Grammar Discussion

      Most Recent Replies (17 in total)

      • freundchen

        freundchen

        Also am very confused … just been shown this, without having been introduced what “い-adjectives” are and that (or how) adjectives are being conjugated.

        did i miss something? Shouldn’t there be something about adjectives, the types, and their conjugation, before this is dropped onto the learner?

      • MOA_304

        MOA_304

        I was confused too just now so I went to Google. Here’s what I found:
        Non-Past Form(~ない)
        Non-Past Negative Form(~ません)
        Past Form(~した)
        Past-Negative Form(なかった)

      • MOA_304

        MOA_304

        I was confused too just now so I went to Google. Here’s what I found:
        Non-Past Form(~ない)
        Non-Past Negative Form(~ません)
        Past Form(~した)
        Past-Negative Form(なかった)

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