Japanese adjectives have very strict rules. There are only two kinds of adjective:
1. \u201c\u3044\u201d adjectives (adjectives ending in the character \u201ci\u201d)
\u304a\u3044\u3057\u3044 (oishii, delicious)
\u9752\u3044 (aoi, blue)
\u92ed\u3044 (surudoi, sharp)
These adjectives can be placed directly before a noun, for example \u304a\u3044\u3057\u3044\u30ea\u30f3\u30b4 (oishii ringo, delicious apple), or used by themselves, for example \u201c\u304a\u3044\u3057\u3044\uff01\u201d<\/p>\n
2. \u201c\u306a\u201d adjectives (adjectives that have \u201cna\u201d added)
\u8ca7\u4e4f\u306a (binbou na, poor)
\u304d\u308c\u3044\u306a (kirei na, beautiful)
\u8c6a\u83ef\u306a (gouka na, extravagant)
These adjectives must have \u201cna\u201d added when they\u2019re used before a noun, for example \u304d\u308c\u3044\u306a\u4eba (kirei na hito, a beautiful person). However, they can be used without \u201cna\u201d by themselves, for example \u201c\u304d\u308c\u3044\uff01\u201d They can end in the character \u201c\u3044\u201d, but are generally made from the \u97f3\u8aad\u307f (onyomi, or Chinese reading) of two kanji put together.<\/p>\n
All adjectives fit into one of these two groups, except for one common but strange word: \u540c\u3058 (onaji, the same). This is perhaps the only exception to the above rules, since it doesn\u2019t end in the character \u201c\u3044\u201d, but it can be placed directly before a noun, without \u201c\u306a\u201d, for example \u540c\u3058\u5974 (onaji yatsu, the same guy). As it\u2019s such a common word, most students learn it without even noticing that it doesn\u2019t fit the rules, but it\u2019s a strange little reminder that language is not a fixed set of patterns, but an ever-evolving tool.<\/p>\n
Now that we’ve finished writing this article, it doesn’t seem half as interesting as it did before we started. Ah well, such is life…<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
| Japanese adjectives have very strict rules. There are only two kinds of adjective:1. \u201c\u3044\u201d adjectives (adjectives ending in the character \u201ci\u201d)\u304a\u3044\u3057\u3044 (oishii, delicious)\u9752\u3044 (aoi, blue)\u92ed\u3044 (surudoi, sharp)These adjectives can be placed directly before a noun, for example \u304a\u3044\u3057\u3044\u30ea\u30f3\u30b4 (oishii ringo, delicious apple), or used by themselves, for example \u201c\u304a\u3044\u3057\u3044\uff01\u201d 2. \u201c\u306a\u201d adjectives (adjectives that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Genki Japanese and Culture School - The adjective "onaji"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"News and commentary from GenkiJACS, a Japanese language school in Fukuoka, Japan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/the-adjective-onaji\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Genki Japanese and Culture School - The adjective "onaji"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"News and commentary from GenkiJACS, a Japanese language school in Fukuoka, Japan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/the-adjective-onaji\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GenkiJACS Japanese School\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/genkijacs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-09-07T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/genkijacsfukuokaschool.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/the-adjective-onaji\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/the-adjective-onaji\/\",\"name\":\"Genki Japanese and Culture School - The adjective \\\"onaji\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-09-07T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2006-09-07T00:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"description\":\"News and commentary from GenkiJACS, a Japanese language school in Fukuoka, Japan\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/the-adjective-onaji\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/the-adjective-onaji\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/the-adjective-onaji\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The adjective “onaji”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"GenkiJACS Japanese School\",\"description\":\"The latest news from Genki Japanese and Culture School\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Genki Japanese and Culture School - The adjective \"onaji\"","description":"News and commentary from GenkiJACS, a Japanese language school in Fukuoka, Japan","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/the-adjective-onaji\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Genki Japanese and Culture School - The adjective \"onaji\"","og_description":"News and commentary from GenkiJACS, a Japanese language school in Fukuoka, Japan","og_url":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/the-adjective-onaji\/","og_site_name":"GenkiJACS Japanese School","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/genkijacs","article_published_time":"2006-09-07T00:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/genkijacsfukuokaschool.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/the-adjective-onaji\/","url":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/the-adjective-onaji\/","name":"Genki Japanese and Culture School - The adjective \"onaji\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2006-09-07T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2006-09-07T00:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"description":"News and commentary from GenkiJACS, a Japanese language school in Fukuoka, Japan","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/the-adjective-onaji\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/the-adjective-onaji\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/the-adjective-onaji\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The adjective “onaji”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/","name":"GenkiJACS Japanese School","description":"The latest news from Genki Japanese and Culture School","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genkijacs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}