い-Adjective

In Japanese い-Adjectives are known as 'form containing words', and are used to describe nouns. All い-Adjectives end in い in their base form.

As mentioned, all い-Adjectives end in い in their base form. However, not all words ending in い are い-Adjectives. Let's take a look at some of the words that are commonly mistaken for い-Adjectives.

In きれい's case, it actually comes from the kanji structure 綺麗(きれい), with い being part of the kanji itself. This is never the case with い-Adjectives, where the い will always be outside of the kanji. Due to the kanji for 綺麗(きれい) being somewhat difficult, this word is often written in hiragana or katakana, which leads to confusion for learners. Unfortunately there is no rule for distinguishing which words ending in い are not い-Adjectives, but thankfully, there are not very many of them, so it won't be long before you become familiar with them.