When you want to say ‘not really’

If you want to say that something was ‘not really’ or ‘I wouldn’t say it was…’ you can put a は (wa) between the –ku form of the verb and the negative words after it.

It wasn’t really expensive:たかくは なかった  (takaku wa nakatta).

It isn’t really cold: つめたくは ありません (tsumetaku wa arimasen). Or, less formal: つめたくは (tsumetaku wa nai).

Here’s a review of the previous posts, using the adjective ふとい (futoi).

It is fat: ふとく です (futoi desu).

It’s not really fat: ふとくは ありません (futoku wa arimasen).

It isn’t fat (formal form): ふとく ありません(futoku arimasen).

It isn’t fat (plain form):ふとく ない (futoku nai).

It was fat: ふとかた です (futokatta desu).

It wasn’t really fat: ふとくは ありませんでした (futoku arimasendeshita).

It wasn’t fat (formal) :ふとく ありませんでした (futoku arimasendeshita).

It wasn’t fat (plain form): ふとく なかった (futoku nakatta).

It wasn’t really fat (plain form): ふとくは なかった (futoku nakatta).

Plain Form of Negative Past ‘i’ Adjectives

The plain form is less formal than the formal form. 

To recall, the formal form of the negative past of an ‘i’ adjective can be made by replacing the ‘i’ with く ありませっでした (ku arimasendeshita’).

Thus:

It was cold: さむかった (samukatta).

It wasn’t cold; さむく ありませっでした (samuku arimasendeshita).

It was difficult: むづかしかった(muzukashikatta).

It wasn’t difficult;むづかしく ありませっでした (muzukashiku arimasendeshita).

The less formal (plain) form of the past negative is made by using  なかった (nakkata) instead of (arimasendeshita). 

Thus:

It wasn’t cold; さむく なかった (samuku nakatta).

It wasn’t difficult;むづかしく なかった (muzukashiku nakatta).

It wasn’t delicious:  おいしく なかった (oishiku nakatta).

It wasn’t far: とおく なかった (tooku nakatta).

It wasn’t good: よく なかった (yoku nakatta).

It wasn’t cool: すずしく  なかった(suzushiku nakatta).

Adjective - Totemo and Kanari

とても (totemo) means ‘very’.

とても さむい (totemo samui) very cold.

とても たかい (totemo takai) very expensive.

とても ふるかった (totemo furui) very old.

かなり (kanari) means ‘quite’ or ‘rather’.

かなり さあむかった (kanari samukatta) was quite cold.

かなり たのしかった (kanari tanoshikatta) was quite fun.

Adverbs – Sometimes

In English we can say that something  is “very sweet” or “not very sweet”. The adverb “very” need not change. In Japanese, the adverb can change depending on whether you are saying something in the affirmative or in the negative.

ときどき (tokidoki) means ‘sometimes’. This adverb is only used in the affirmative.

ときどき おもしろい (tokidoki omoshiroi; sometimes interesting).

ときどき むずかしい (tokidoki muzukashii; sometimes difficult).

Apparently, one would not say ときどき むずかしく ありません (tokidoki muzukashiku arimasen; sometimes not difficult), because for a negative adjective, you would need to use an adverb that works for negative adjectives, and ときどき is not one of those.

Adjectives – Negative Past

Sometimes you need to say that something ‘was not’. For ‘i’ adjectives, you change the  い (i) into く (ku) and add ありませんでした (arimasendeshita).

あまい (amai; sweet) becomes あまくありませんでした (amaku arimasendeshita; was not sweet).

とおい (tooi; far) becomes  とおくありませんでした (tooku arimasendeshita; was not far)

いい (ii; good) is a ‘special’ case because it becomes よくありませんでした (yoku arimasendeshita; was not good). Note that this is not really a special case if you remember that いい is just an inflection of よい (yoi; good)

Adjectives Past Tense

To change a non-negative ‘i’ adjective to its past tense, change the い (i)to かった (katta).

So if something ‘was fast’ then it was はやかった(hayakatta).

Was cold = さむかった (samukatta).

Was hot = あつかった (atsukatta).

Was busy = いそがしかった (isogashikatta)

Was good =  よかった (yokatta)

Was expensive = たかかった (takakatta)

Was interesting = おもしろかった (omoshirokatta).

Was cold (person) =  つめたかった (tsumetakatta).

Negative of a Adjectives

About half of Japanese adjectives end with い (i).  To form the negative of these adjectives, the same way we change ‘new’ to ‘not new’ or ‘big’ to ‘not big’, replace the い with く (ku) and add ありません (arimasen). 

So あたらしい (atarashii; new) becomes あたらしく ありません (atarashiku arimasen).

Similarly, いそがしい isogashii (busy) becomes いそがしく ありません(isogashiku arimasen; not busy)

Using nai  is a less formal way to form the negative.

Another way to form the negative of an ‘i’ adjective is to add ない (nai) rather than ありません. Thus あたらしい  (atarashii) becomes あたらしく ない (atarashiku nai).  This second method is less formal than the first one, so as they always advise, if in doubt, use the the more formal method, especially when talking to strangers.

Basic Adjectives

Some basic Japanese adjectives:

 さむい samui– cold. Kyoo was samui desu.  It is very cold today.

 ふるい furui– old (thing). Kore was furui desu. This (thing) is old.

ちいさい chiisai – small.  Ano neko was chiisai desu.  That cat is small.

やすい yasui – cheap, not dear.  Sono hon was yasui desu. That book is inexpensive.

あつい atsui – hot (weather or things).  Kinoo was atsui desu ne?  Yesterday was hot wasn’t it?

やさしい yasashii – gentle, nice (people), easy (things like exams).  Yasashii sensei. Nice teacher.

たかい takai – expensive.  Takai kuruma. Expensive car.

 あたらしい atarashii – new.  Atarashii gakusei. New student.