Ask-a-Teacher Question

<< more questions for course 3

Question to Teacher: How do you change an adjective into an adverb?
Course 3 Lesson 12: Atsuko's Letter (Grammar)

nobunaga86

Post Date: 2005-11-18 13:33:38

save to notebook

saved questions

member since
2005 Jul 12

Questions: 1
Comments: 1

How does one distinguish between an adverb and an adjective in japanese? Is there a way of making a word into an adverb?
Thanks for the great site!

Was this question helpful to you?

JFZ Teacher (Kanako)

Post Date: 2005-11-18 13:40:47

member since
2003 Mar 03

Questions: 10
Comments: 1302

There is a way of making adjectives into adverbs. (See Course 3 Lesson 12 Grammar PART 2)

Let me give you examples with I adjectives;

1) さびしい (SABISHII/lonely, sad) → さびしく (SABISHIKU/sadly)

わたしはきのう、さびしくひとりでばんごはんをたべました。（WATASHI WA KINOU HITORIDE SABISHIKU BANGOHAN O TABEMASHITA) = I sadly ate dinner alone yesterday.

2) やさしい (YASASHII/kind, sweet) → やさしく（YASASHIKU/kindly)

きむらさんはいつもやさしくはなします。(KIMURA SAN WA ITSUMO YASASHIKU HANASHIMASU) = Mr. Kimura always speaks kindly.

One example with いい (II);

3) いい（II/good) → よく（YOKU/well)

よくできました！（YOKU DEKIMASHITA) = Well done!

When it comes to NA adjectives, you need to add に (NI) to a な adjective to change it into an adverb.

For example;

4) きれい (KIREI/beautiful, clean) → きれいに (KIREINI/beautifully, cleanly)

けんくんはきれいにえをかきました。（KEN KUN WA KIREINI E O KAKIMASHITA) = Ken drew a picture beautifully.

5) じょうず（JOUZU/skillful, good at) → じょうずに（JOUZUNI/skillfully, well)

ぼくのおくさんはじょうずにピアノをひきます。(BOKU NO OKUSAN WA JOUZUNI PIANO O HIKIMASU) = My wife plays the piano so well.

Keep up the good work!

Kanako @ YesJapan Teacher

Luke101018

Post Date: 2005-11-21 06:43:38

member since
2004 Oct 01

Questions: 20
Comments: 169

rjuy
*adds to favourites*. Nice work Kanako.

dtm

Post Date: 2005-11-21 06:55:38

member since
2005 Sep 18

Questions: 2
Comments: 7

Ah hah
Learning techniques such as this one really helps with fluency. Thanks for the great info.