Japanese Adjectives Part 2 -
Free Japanese Lessons: 6

This section will discuss how to connect 2 Japanese adjectives.

When there are 2 adjective sentences, how to join them together into one sentence?

The answer is to change the adjective in the first sentence to te-form (て-form), and connect it to the second adjective to form one sentence.

te-form has many functions and one of them is to connect sentences. You will get to see more of te-form in future lessons.

Now let's see how to change an adjective into its te-form.

How to Change to te-form for Japanese Adjectives?

To change to te-form for i-adjectives, remove the "い" (i) and replace it with "くて" (kute).

To change to te-form for na-adjectives, append "で" (de) at the end.

See the following examples...

• おいしい  →  おいしくて (oishikute): delicious
• やすい     →  やすくて (yasukute): cheap

• きれい      →  きれいで (kireide): clean/beautiful
• しんせつ  →  しんせつで (shinsetsude): kind

Joining 2 Sentences with te-form

So joining these 2 sentences with te-form for i-adjectives,

• このりょうりはおいしいです。
  kono ryouri wa oishii desu
• このりょうりはやすいです。
  kono ryouri wa yasui desu

it becomes...

• このりょうりはおいしくてやすいです。
  kono ryouri wa oishikute yasui desu
  Meaning: This dish is delicious and cheap.

And joining these 2 sentences with te-form for na-adjectives,

• たなかさんはきれいです。
  tanaka san wa kirei desu
• たなかさんはしんせつです。
  tanaka san wa shinsetsu desu

it becomes...

• たなかさんはきれいでしんせつです。
  tanaka san wa kirei de shinsetsu desu
  Meaning: Ms Tanaka is beautiful and kind.

The important point is to change the first adjective, so you can even join one i-adjective to another na-adjective. Therefore the following 2 sentences are also valid.

• やまださんはおもしろくてげんきなひとです。
  yamada san wa omoshirokute genki na hito desu
  Meaning: Mr Yamada is an interesting and energetic person.

• やまださんはげんきでおもしろいひとです。
  yamada san wa genki de omoshiroi hito desu
  Meaning: Mr Yamada is an energetic and interesting person.

Rule to Note When Connecting 2 Adjectives

The 2 connected Japanese adjectives must not be of contradictory notion. That means when one adjective describes about "good" thing, the other adjective must not describe about "bad" thing.

Therefore you cannot describe a room as old and large using te-form, nor describe it as new and narrow. The following 2 sentences are NOT correct...

• このへやはふるくてひろいです。 X
  kono heya wa furukute hiroi desu X
  Meaning: This room is old and wide.

• このへやはあたらしくてせまいです。 X
  kono heya wa atarashikute semai desu X
  Meaning: This room is new and narrow.

You should describe the room as old and narrow, or new and large, like the following...

• このへやはふるくてせまいです。 O
  kono heya wa furukute semai desu O
  Meaning: This room is old and narrow.

• このへやはあたらしくてひろいです。 O
  kono heya wa atarashikute hiroi desu O
  Meaning: This room is new and wide.

In Summary, don't connect 2 contradictory Japanese adjectives using te-form. You will learn how to do that in future lessons.

Exception of te-form for いい

As you may have expected, the te-form for いい is よくて (yokute) but not いくて (ikute).

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