An introduction to Japanese - Syntax, Grammar & Language

102 CHAPTER 3. MORE GRAMMAR

Verb/adjective conjunctive

There are three adjectives that are commonly used in verb/adjective com-

pounds, being

,

and

, used to mean ”easy to ...” and ”hard

to ...” (twice). For instance, if a book is easy to read, then this can be said in

Japanese by combining the verb for reading,

, with the adjective easy,

, to form , meaning ”easy to read”. In English this is a noun

phrase, but in Japanese this is still an adjective, and can be used to describe

objects, such as for instance:

An easy to read book.

Something that is hard to say.

(lit: a hard-to-say thing)

Unlike the verb/verb conjunctions, this type of conjunction never

drops the verb’s okurigana.

While both and signify ”hard to ...”, is a more

modern reading; most things that are ”hard to ...” in modern Japanese will

use the reading. Examples of the reading are found in for

instance
, which is commonly known as paired with the verb
, with which it becomes (thank you).

Verb/noun conjunctive

This conjunction is a very nice one, because it shows an elementary sim-

plicity in the creation of some of Japanese’s nouns: compounding. By com-

bining a verb in , which we know can act as a noun on its own, with

another noun, we can form a new compound noun. This particular con-

junction can be seen in some words that one would not immediately think

of as compound nouns:

verb meaning noun meaning conjunction meaning

wear (on the body)

thing

kimono

board, get on

place

a stop (i.e. bus stop)