きれいです! Kirei desu! Beautiful! Basic Descriptions of Things in Japanese

In this post you’ll learn some basic descriptions of things in Japanese. That means that you’ll learn how to use Japanese adjectives to describe things. First you’ll learn colors in Japanese along with some examples. Then you’ll learn other common adjectives you can use to give descriptions of things in Japanese.

Colors in Japanese

Let’s start with colors: 黒い kuroi black; 白い shiroi white; 赤い akai red; 青い aoi blue; 黄色い kiiroi yellow; 緑 midori green; 茶色い chairoi brown; グレー guree gray.  

• 何色ですか。
  Nani iro desu ka.
  What color is it?
• 犬は黒いです。
  Inu wa kuroi desu.
  The dog is black.
• 猫は白いです。
  Neko wa shiroi desu.
  The cat is white.

• 車は青いです。
  Kuruma wa aoi desu.
  The car is blue.
• 日本の国旗は白と赤です。
  Nihon no kokki wa shiro to aka desu.
  The Japanese flag is white and red.

Other Common Japanese Adjectives

Now let’s look at several other important basic adjectives: いい ii good; 悪い warui bad; 大きい ookii big; 小さい chiisai small; 美しい、きれい utsukushii, kirei beautiful; 古い furui old; 新しい atarashii new; 長い nagai long; 短い mijikai short; 高い takai high; 低い hikui low; 空kara empty; 一杯 ippai full; 広い hiroi  wide; 狭い semai narrow; 硬いkatai hard; 柔らかい yawarakai soft; 難しい muzukashii difficult; 易しい yasashii easy.

• このレストランは｛いい・よくない｝レストランです。
  Kono resutoran wa {ī/yokunai} resutoran desu.
  This restaurant is good/bad.
• 映画は｛古い・新しい｝です。
  Ēga wa {furui/atarashī} desu.
  The film is old/new.
• 町は｛きれい・大きい｝です。
  Machi wa {kirē/ōkī} desu.
  The city is beautiful/big.
• 道は｛広い・狭い｝です。
  Michi wa {hiroi/semai} desu.
  The street is wide/narrow.
• ベッドは｛硬い・柔らかい｝です。
  Beddo wa {katai/yawarakai} desu.
  The bed is hard/soft.
• コップは｛一杯・空｝です。
  Koppu wa {ippai/kara} desu.
  The glass is full/empty.

Get on the road to speaking Japanese with the Language Garage!

We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about basic descriptions of things in Japanese. Now you know colors in Japanese along with some other common Swahili Japanese. If you’d like to learn more, check out our other posts on Japanese language, culture, and more. And if you’re looking for convenient and affordable live Japanese lessons with a real teacher, check out the Language Garage. Our lessons are given online in a virtual classroom, so it doesn’t matter where you live or work – we can come to you. And we have flexible options, with a free trial so that you can decide if there’s a fit. Check us out!

Photo by Hideki Nishiyama on Unsplash