Languages › Japanese Useful Japanese Adjectives Know these words and their pronunciations Share Flipboard Email Print It was a cold (samui) day. Paulo Amorim/Getty Images Japanese Japanese Grammar History & Culture Essential Japanese Vocabulary By Namiko Abe Namiko Abe Japanese Language Expert B.A., Kwansei Gakuin University Namiko Abe is a Japanese language teacher and translator, as well as a Japanese calligraphy expert. She has been a freelance writer for nearly 20 years. Learn about our Editorial Process Updated on February 28, 2019 Here is the list of useful Japanese adjectives and their pronunciations. bigookii大きい smallchiisai小さい longnagai長い shortmijikai短い thick, fatfutoi太い slender (person)yasetaやせた thinusui薄い widehiroi広い narrowsemai狭い heavyomoi重い lightkarui軽い hightakai高い lowhikui低い fasthayai速い slow, lateosoi遅い many, muchooi多い few, littlesukunai少ない hardkataiかたい softyawarakaiやわらかい deepfukai深い shallowasai浅い beautifulutsukushii美しい uglyminikui醜い prettykireinaきれいな cutekawaiiかわいい cleanseiketsuna清潔な dirtykitanai汚い fasthayai速い slowosoi遅い strongtsuyoi強い weakyowai弱い calmshizukana静かな brightakarui明るい darkkurai暗い newatarashii新しい oldfurui古い youngwakai若い hotatsui暑い coldsamui寒い far, distanttooi遠い nearchikai近い Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Abe, Namiko. "Useful Japanese Adjectives." ThoughtCo, Aug. 28, 2020, thoughtco.com/useful-japanese-adjectives-2027924. Abe, Namiko. (2020, August 28). Useful Japanese Adjectives. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/useful-japanese-adjectives-2027924 Abe, Namiko. "Useful Japanese Adjectives." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/useful-japanese-adjectives-2027924 (accessed May 30, 2023). copy citation