0064 – Japanese basics (N5-N3) – XはYがAdjectiveです (other basic adjectives)

 

 

 

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 means you 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 you use it 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 be no 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.

 

has a 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?

 

which asks directly the listener, should not be used.

Because it is widely considered impolite.