How can I say that I’m good at cooking?
Some basic adjectives which take X wa Y ga Adjective desu pattern
Some basic adjectives in Japanese like
嫌い: kirai: undesirable (to hate)
上手: jouzu: good at
下手: heta: not good at
*attention, these are all na-adjective (including 嫌い)
take a particular grammar pattern that we saw in the previous lesson : X likes Y (basic XはYがadjectiveです。pattern)
XはYがAdjectiveです。
X wa Y ga Adjective desu.
where,
X = subject
Y = object
For example,
ピットさんは野菜が嫌いです。
Pitto san wa yasai ga kirai desu.
Pitto-san hates vegetables.
わたしは料理が上手です。
watashi wa ryouri ga jouzu desu.
I’m good at cooking.
弟はサッカーが下手です。
otouto wa sakkaa ga heta desu.
My younger brother is not good at football.
What is the difference between 上手じゃない and 下手?
Sometimes we get confused with the difference between
上手じゃない
jouzu janai
not good at
下手
heta
not good at
and even
好きじゃない
suki janai
not desirable
嫌い
kirai
not desirable
These are basically the same, but socially different.
That is to say;
Better to use the negative form of a positive adjective if X is not referring to the speaker him/herself
In fact, the adjectives like
下手
heta
not good at
嫌い
kirai
not desirable
have a strong impression.
So if you use it to describe other people,your sentence may create a strong impression.
It meansyou may use those negatively nuanced adjectives without problems to describe yourself, or perhaps your close friends and family members when you are talking with them, but if youuseit for a person other than that, people around you may form an impression that you have some issue or problem with this person.
For example,
私は料理が下手です。
watashi wa ryouri ga jouzu desu.
I’m not good at cooking.
妹は料理が下手です。
imouto wa ryouri ga heta desu.
My younger sister is not good at cooking.
could beno problems, but
日本人は英語が下手です。
nihonjin wa eigo ga heta desu.
Japanese are not good at English.
hasa stronger impression than
日本人は英語が上手じゃないです。
nihonjin wa eigo ga jouzu janai desu.
Japanese are not good at English.
Attention when asking a question
We can make interrogative sentences with the grammar pattern that we saw above.
But when it comes to
上手
jouzu
good at
下手
heta
not good at
we need to pay attention to do it.
Especially, the question like
何が上手ですか。
nani ga jouzu desu ka.
What are you good at?
whichasks directly the listener,should not be used.
Because it is widely consideredimpolite.
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