Description

This article is from the Japanese FAQ, by TANAKA Tomoyuki tanaka@cs.indiana.edu and Olaf Meeuwissen olaf@IMSL.shinshu-u.ac.jp with numerous contributions by others.

10 akai is a (canonical) keiyoushi / shizuka is a (canonical) keiyoudoushi (Japanese)

("canonical" means "archetypical" in Hackerspeak.)

keiyoushi words have inflections (katuyou), e.g.,
akai akakatta akakunai akaitoki akakereba ...

keiyoudoushi words don't have inflections (katuyou)
and are followed by DA/DESU.

on "akai desu", Honda Katuiti (prominent journalist) agrees
with me completely. "nihongo no sakubun gijutu" (p.222--)

another "gaijin-sounding" phrase is "... nai desu".

 strange:  "XXX ga nai desu"
 correct:  "XXX ga arimasen"
  
 strange:  "XXX-sinai desu"  (okinai desu, toranai desu, kakanai desu)
 correct:  "XXX-simasen "    (okimasen, torimasen, kakimasen)

Continue to:

• prev: 09 "akai desu" is ungrammatical, and other fine/anal points (Japanese)
• Index
• next: 11 this "akai desu" is (to a small extent) a matter of taste (Japanese)