1. t can also be used to modify nouns and verbs. We will refer to these as "dn". All words in the "dv"
group always end with い (i). No exceptions. This is placed in front of a noun in order to modify it. For
example:
Romaji
漢字 Kanji ひらがな Hiragana English Meaning
(English Letters)
赤い車 あかいくるま akai kuruma red car
These words can be conjugated to form different tenses, modify verbs, etc. Here is how that is done:
Romaji
ひらがな Hiragana English Meaning
(English Letters)
modifies a verb (akaku natta > became
drop the い and add く drop the "i" and add "ku" red)
(naru is the verb "to become")
present tense negative (akakunai > is not
drop the い and add くない drop the "i" and add "kunai"
red)
drop the い and add かった drop the "i" and add "katta" past tense (akakatta > was red)
past tense negative (akakunakatta > was
drop the い and add くなか drop the "i" and add not red)
った "kunakatta" (This one might take a little practice
saying.)
It's not as easy to recognize a "dn" but I will point them out in the vocabulary lists. Sometimes you'll
even find a "dn" that ends in い (i) (ex. kirei pretty). As mentioned before, these words can, in most
cases, be used by themselves like a noun (ex. shizen nature). By adding a な (na) to the end of these
words they can be used to modify a noun (ex. shizen na kankyou > a natural environment). And by
adding a に (ni) to the end of these words they can be used to modify a verb as an adverb (ex. shizen ni
aruku > to walk naturally).
Here's a list of some commonly used "dv" and "dn":
Romaji
漢字 Kanji ひらがな Hiragana English Meaning
(English Letters)
赤い あかい akai (dv) red
黄色い きいろい kiiroi (dv) yellow
青い あおい aoi (dv) blue
黒い くろい kuroi (dv) black
白い しろい shiroi (dv) white
面白い おもしろい omoshiroi (dv) interesting, funny
暑い あつい atsui (dv) hot
寒い さむい samui (dv) cold
大きい おおきい ookii (dv) big
小さい ちいさい chiisai (dv) small
自然 しぜん shizen (dn) nature
