Japanese

<p>
	There are two types of adjectives in Japanese, <strong>い-adjectives</strong> and <strong>な-adjectives</strong>.
	These adjectives behave in a different way.
</p>

<p>
	In this lesson you will learn two adjectives, <strong><ruby>大ooきい</ruby></strong>(ookii), which means <strong>big</strong>, and <strong>きれい</strong>, which means <strong>pretty</strong>.
	<strong><ruby>大ooきい</ruby></strong> is an い-adjective, and <strong>きれい</strong> is a な-adjective.
</p>

<h4>Using adjectives after a noun</h4>

<p>
	When used after a noun, there is no difference between these two kinds of adjectives, as you can see below.
</p>

<table class="ui fixed celled table">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>English</th>
			<th>Japanese</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr data-item="25282"></tr>
		<tr data-item="25283"></tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>
	When used in front of a noun, な-adjectives end in <strong>な</strong>.
	This is why な-adjectives are called な-adjectives.
</p>

<h4>Using adjectives in front of a noun</h4>

<table class="ui fixed celled table">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>English</th>
			<th>Japanese</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr data-item="25289"></tr>
		<tr data-item="25285"></tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>
	い-adjectives don't change when used in front of a noun.
	All い-adjectives end in <strong>い</strong>, but not all adjectives ending in <strong>い</strong> are い-adjectives.
	Otherwise <strong>きれい</strong> would also be an い-adjective, which it is not.
</p>

<p>
	You don't have to worry about remembering whether each adjective you learn is an い-adjective or a な-adjective.
	We will make sure to use each adjective we teach in a sentence in such a way that you will know and remember.
</p>

<h4>The nationality suffix</h4>

<p>
	As you can see in the table below,
	we can refer to a person from a specific country by placing the kanji <strong><ruby>人zin</ruby></strong> after the country name.
</p>

<table class="ui fixed celled table">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>English</th>
			<th>Japanese</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr data-item="25287"></tr>
		<tr data-item="25288"></tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

い-adjectives and な-adjectives

hiragana character

kanji

adnominal

adverb

auxiliary

conjunction

compound

i-adjective

interjection

noun

na-adjective

numeral

particle

case particle

conjunctive particle

discourse particle

prefix

pronoun

suffix

verb

sentence

hiragana writing

kanji writing

kanji component

reading vocabulary

katakana writing

katakana character

godan - group 1

itidan - group 2

group 3

transitive

intransitive

proper noun

discourse

phrase

expression

Word	日に本ほん人じんnihonzin
Meaning	Japanese (person)
Part of speech	noun
Pronunciation
Course	Japanese
Lesson	い-adjectives and な-adjectives

Japan	日に本ほんnihon
person from ... (suffix for indicating nationality, race or origin)	〜人じん〜zin

Are (you) Japanese?	日に本ほん人じん　です　か？nihonzin desu ka?
(I) am not Japanese.	日に本ほん人じん　じゃ　ない　です。nihonzin zya nai desu.
That person is Japanese too.	あの　人ひと　も　日に本ほん人じん　です。ano hito mo nihonzin desu.
You are a Japanese student^{having the Japanese nationality}.	あなた　は　日に本ほん人じん　の　学がく生せい　です。anata ha nihonzin no gakusei desu.
(He) is Japanese, and is a Japanese language teacher.	日に本ほん人じんで、　日に本ほん語ご　の　先せん生せい　です。nihonzinde, nihongo no sensei desu.

Japanese - nihonzin

Breakdown of nihonzin

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Usages of nihonzin