It is important to know that you cannot use “to” when you use two adjectives parallelly in a sentence. “to” is to juxtapose two nouns, it is not for adjectives.
Do you remember that there are two types of adjectives in Japanese? One is I-adjective and the other is Na-adjective. The definition why we call them “I-” and “Na-” are as below;
– I-adjectives : when an adjective modifies a noun, the last letter of the adjective becomes “i”
Examples; Omoshiroi Manga (funny manga), Atsui Ocha (hot tea), Kanashii Kimochi (sad feeling)
– Na-adjectives : when an adjective modifies a noun, the last letter of the adjective becomes “na”
Examples; Shizukana Toshokan (Quiet library), Shinsetsuna Hito (Kind person), Kireina Kouen (Beautiful Park)
(I always tell you that “Kireina” is not I-adjective but Na-adjective. Please remember it.)
Since there are two types of adjectives, we need to check how two adjectives we can connect for each.
Case1: The first adjective is I-adjective
– Satou-san wa Wakai desu. Soshite, Genki desu. (Sato-san is young. And she is energetic.)
The first adjective “Wakai” is an I-adjective. The second one is Na-adjective “Genkina”. But we don’t need care whether the second is I- or Na-adjectives.
If you connect two sentences above, how do you do it?
– WRONG: Satou-san wa Wakai to Genki desu.
– RIGHT: Satou-san wa Wakakute Genki desu. (Sato-san is young and energetic.)
Don’t think that “to” of Japanese works identically to “and” of English. You can say “Ring to Mikan” for “Apple and Mandarin”, but not “Wakai to Genki” for “young and energetic”. Also, you need to know, when I-adjective is followed by another conjugating word, “i” changes to be “ku”. Do you remember that an I-adjective is followed by negative “nai” which is a conjugating word, “i” becomes “kunai”? That is the same conjugation pattern.
Let us look at one particular I-adjective “ii”
– Satou-san wa Atama ga Ii desu. Soshite, Omoshiroi desu.
When you connect these two sentences;
– WRONG: Satou-san wa Atama ga Ii to Omoshiroi desu.
This is incorrect. You cannot use “to” to juxtapose two adjectives. Then, is the following okay?
– A little Wrong: Satou-san wa Atama ga Ikute Omoshiroi desu.
This is still not perfect.
– RIGHT: Satou-san wa Atama ga Yokute Omoshiori desu. (Sato-san is clever and interesting.)
Case2: The first adjective is Na-adjective
– Satou-san wa Shinsetu desu. Soshite, Yasashii desu. (Sato-san is kind. And she is compassionate.)
The first adjective “Shisetsu” is a Na-adjective “Shinsetuna”. If you connect two sentences above, how do you do it?
– WRONG: Satou-san wa Shinsetsukute Yasashii desu.
No. “-kute” is for I-adjective. Shinsetsu is not an I-adjective, but Na-adjective.
– RIGHT: Satou-san wa Shinsetsude Yasashii desu. (Sato-san is kind and compassionate.)
Remember the correct expressions;
1. Satou-san wa Wakakute Genki desu. (Sato-san is young and energetic.)
2. Satou-san wa Atama ga Yokute Omoshiori desu. (Sato-san is clever and interesting.)
3. Satou-san wa Shinsetsude Yasashii desu. (Sato-san is kind and compassionate.)
Note that “-kute” for I-adjective, and “-de” for Na-adjective.
Actually, there is one caveat. Today, we have learned how to use two adjectives parallelly in a sentence. But to apply today’s construction, you need to be careful about meanings of adjectives. Today’s method is only applicable when the two adjectives are both positive, or both negative.
4. Kono Shokudou no Gohan wa Yashukute Oishii desu. (Foods in this restaurant is reasonable and tasty.)
=> Yasui(reasonable) and Oishii(tasty) are both positive in their meanings.
5. Kono Heya wa Kurakute Samui desu. (This room is dark and cold.)
=> Kurai(dark) and Samui (cold) are both negative in their meanings.
You need to connect differently when two adjectives are opposite in terms of positive or negative meanings. The way to do it will be explained in another opportunity.
Lastly, although I have written “how to use two adjectives parallelly”, but actually it is not completely “parallel”. Sometimes the first adjective is a reason of the second. See 1. “Wakakute Genki”. It sounds like being young is a reason to be energetic. In 2. “Atamaga Yokute Omoshiroi”, being clever is a reason of being an interesting person.
This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section 16 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
Agony or Fun?! Second Language Learning 