Japanese Verbs Two

Japanese Verbs Two, of the learn Japanese series, will deal with how verbs change when you want to add the meaning of "easy to do" or "hard to do" to a verb.

Basically, take the verb stem and then just add the ending …yasui or ...nikui.

For example, the verb: yomu, which means to read:

Verb stem = yomi. Now add "yasui," which becomes yomiyasui and means "easy to read," or if you add "nikui," then it becomes yominikui, which means "difficult to read."

Add desu to make it polite.

In order to do this with all verbs let's first recap on Japanese verbs

There are three types of verb:

1. irregular verbs, of which there are only two.
2. The verbs that end in "u." 
   
3. Those that end in "ru."

To make it easier I will arrange the verb in its various forms

The below works in the same way for nikui as it does for yasui.

Plain Form   Verb Stem   "+yasui" form   Kanji/Kana

Kuru                   ki             kiyasui           来やすい

Suru                   shi           shiyasui           しやすい

Verbs that end in "ru:"

Miru                    mi            miyasui           見やすたい

Taberu               tabe           tabeyasui        食べやすい

Verbs that end in "u:"

Katsu                kachi           kachiyasui       勝ちやすい

Yomu                 yomi           yomiyasui       読みやすい

Modoru             modori         modoriyasui     戻りやすい

Beware of the "u" form, they are not supposed to be irregular. However, the way they change is sometimes not what you would expect. Most verbs that end in "ru" behave like "taberu," but not all.

Here are a few examples:

自転車 = ji ten sha = bycycle.

買 = ka. Dictionary form = kau = to buy.

It's easy to buy a bicycle.        自転車を買いやすいです。

It's easy to eat sushi.              すしを食べやすいです。

It's easy to read that book.      その本を読みやすいです。

To say that "it's not easy to do something"

This form uses ...yasukunai.

Plain Form   Verb Stem   "+yasukunai" form      Kanji/Kana

Kuru                  ki               kiyasukunai           来やすくない

Suru                 shi              shiyasukunai          しやすくない

Verbs that end in "ru:"

Miru                   mi              miyasukunai          見やすくない

Taberu               tabe            tabeyasukunai        食やすたくない

Verbs that end in "u:"

Katsu                 kachi          kachiyasukunai        勝ちやすくない

Yomu                 yomi            yomiyasukunai       読みやすくない

Modoru             modori         modoriyasukunai     戻りやすくない

Here are a few examples:

It's not easy to buy a bicycle.            自転車を買いやすくないです。

It's not easy to eat shushi.                すしを食べやすくないです。

It's not easy to read that book.          その本を読みやすくないです。

 

To say that " it was easy to do something"

This form uses ...yasukatta.

Plain Form   Verb Stem   "+yasukatta" form      Kanji/Kana

Kuru                  ki               kiyasukatta           来やすかった

Suru                 shi              shiyasukatta          しやすかった

Verbs that end in "ru:"

Miru                   mi              miyasukatta          見やすかった

Taberu               tabe            tabeyasukatta       食べやすかった

Verbs that end in "u:"

Katsu                 kachi          kachiyasukatta      勝ちやすかった

Yomu                 yomi            yomiyasukatta      読みやすかった

Modoru             modori         modoriyasukatta     戻りやすかった

Here are a few examples:

It was easy to buy a bicycle.            自転車を買いやすかったです。

It was easy to eat sushi.                  すしを食べやすかったです。

It was easy to read that book.          その本を読みやすかったです。

 

To say that "it wasn't easy to do something"

This form uses ...yasukunakatta.

Plain Form   Verb Stem   "+yasukunakatta" form      Kanji/Kana

Kuru                  ki               kiyasukunakatta           来やすくなかった

Suru                 shi              shiyasukunakatta          しやすくなかった

Verbs that end in "ru:"

Miru                   mi              miyasukunakatta          見やすくなかった

Taberu               tabe            tabeyasukunakatta       食べやすくなかった

Verbs that end in "u:"

Katsu                 kachi          kachiyasukunakatta      勝ちやすくなかった

Yomu                 yomi           yomiyasukunakatta      読みやすくなかった

Modoru             modori         modoriyasukunakatta    戻りやすくなかった

Here are a few examples:

It wasn't easy to buy a bicycle.         自転車を買いやすくなかったです。

It wasn't easy to eat sushi.               すしを食べやすくなかったです。

It wasn't easy to read that book.       その本を読みやすくなかったです。

Now let's do some practice!

Japanese vocabulary for the below exercise.

It's written first in English, then kanji and finally hiragana:

Today 今日　きょう　to play baseball 野球する　やきゅうする　radio ラジオ

to hear 聞く　きく school　学校　がっこう　to walk 歩く　あるく Jill ジル

to meet 会う　あう yesterday 昨日　きのう to sing　歌う　うたう　

last week 先週　せんしゅう horse 馬　うま to ride 乗る のる

this morning 今朝　けさ　to get up 起きる　おきる　with と Bill ビル

to speak 話す　はなす now 今　いま　to sleep 寝る　ねる　

five minutes 五分　ごふん before 前　まえ eye 目　め

to close　閉じる　とじる　word 単語　たんご to say 言う　いう　I 私　わたし

room 部屋　へや　to clean 掃除する　そうじする

Once you have done it, click here to see how you did.

Now, do it again and again until you are perfect and fast.

The only way to remember all this is to practice it on a regular basis.

The best way to do this is:

1. Come back to this page regularly and check yourself on the above 12 Japanese phrases.
2. Write an example of each in a small note book, so as to practice them when you have nothing to do, like waiting for a bus.
   

Back to the Japanese words page