Structure
［い］Adjective + Noun
Examples:
かわいい + 猫
新しい + 車
寒い + 冬
Details
Expression
Independent Word
Standard
About い-Adjective + Noun
In Japanese, almost any type of word can be attached to the beginning of a noun to modify the meaning, or describe the qualities of that noun. However, depending on the type of word used, conjugation rules will differ slightly.
For い-Adjectives, they are simply attached to the front of the noun in their standard (dictionary) form.
Caution
When identifying what is an い-Adjective, and what is not, remember that an い-Adjective will always have the い outside of any kanji that are in the word. However, the reverse situation with な-Adjectives always having the い in the kanji is not true 100% of the time.
面白い - The い is outside of the kanji, so 'interesting' is almost definitely an い-Adjective.
綺麗 - The い is inside of the kanji, so 'clean' is definitely not an い-Adjective.
One example of an exception as mentioned above is 嫌い. Despite the い being outside of the kanji, 'hate' is actually a な-Adjective. Don't worry though, less than 1% of any adjective that has い on the outside of the kanji will actually be a な-Adjective!
Topics
A Tale of Two Adjectives
N5 Topic
In this Topic, we're going to look at how い-Adjectives and な-Adjectives are used to describe nouns directly. We've already come across this pattern when we first learned about Japanese adjectives and in example sentences since then. However, let's make sure we have the rules firmly in our head before moving on.
Related
Vocab Coverage
All Bunpro Vocab that appears on this item.
Examples
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新しい車。
A new car.
可愛い女の子がいる。
There is a cute girl.
かっこいい先輩。
Cool senpai.
寒い夜。
Cold night.
面白いゲームを買います。
To buy an interesting game.
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Genki I 3rd Edition
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い-Adjective + Noun – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (2 in total)
Yozhik
“面白い - The い is outside the kanji, so it is definitely an い-Adjective.
綺麗 - The い is inside of the kanji, so it is definitely not an い-Adjective.
There are some, but very few exceptions.嫌い - The い is outside of the kanji, but this is actually a な-Adjective.”
So…. There are some, but very exceptions of what exactly?
Where the い is inside the kanji and it is an い-adjective? That doesn’t seem to make sense, but that is what it seems to say.
Where the い is outside the kanji, but it is actually a な-adjective? That would make sense, but if so I would suggest rewriting the section as:
“面白い - The い is outside the kanji, so it is definitely an い-Adjective.
綺麗 - The い is inside of the kanji, so it is definitely not an い-Adjective.
嫌い - The い is outside of the kanji, but this is actually a な-Adjective.
There are some, but very few exceptions, of an なーadjective where い is outside the kanji.”
EnkiEnki
I think it’s pretty clear what it’s saying.
If the “i” is outside the kanji than it’s probably an i-adjective. i-adjectives will always have the “i” outside the kanji. There are some exceptions where the “i” is outside the kanji and is a na-adjective though, so be careful. That said, less than 1% of na-adjectives are like that. So you can just assume if an adjective has “i” outside the kanji it’s an i-adjective, and just memorize the few that break that rule and are actually na-adjectives, such as “kirai”
If it’s inside the kanji it’s definitely not an i-adjective