After learning the difference between い-adjectives and な-adjectives, you might think "if it ends in い, it's an い-adjective." Wrong. A handful of common words end in い but are actually な-adjectives — and using the wrong conjugation pattern will break your sentences.
Review: Two Types of Adjectives
| い-adjective | な-adjective | |
|---|---|---|
| Before nouns | 大きい人 | 好きな人 |
| Negative | 大きくない | 好きではない |
| Past | 大きかった | 好きだった |
| Polite negative | 大きくありません | 好きではありません |
The key difference: な-adjectives need な before nouns, and their negative/past forms follow a completely different pattern.
The Trap Words: End in い, But Are な-Adjectives
These words all end in い, yet they are all な-adjectives:
| Word | Reading | Meaning | Before a noun |
|---|---|---|---|
| 好き | すき | like/fond of | 好きな食べ物 |
| 嫌い | きらい | dislike/hate | 嫌いな食べ物 |
| きれい | きれい | pretty/clean | きれいな人 |
| 有名 | ゆうめい | famous | 有名な人 |
Why Aren't They い-Adjectives?
Because their い is part of the stem — it's not a conjugating ending. With true い-adjectives, you can swap い for other endings (大きい → 大きくない → 大きかった). But with 好き, the き is baked into the word — remove it and there's nothing left to conjugate.
Sentence Patterns for 好き and 嫌い
好き and 嫌い are extremely common. Their sentence pattern uses two particles — は for the topic and が for the object:
A は B が 好きです。 → A likes B. A は B が 嫌いです。 → A dislikes B.
| Japanese | English |
|---|---|
| 私は日本語が好きです。 | I like Japanese. |
| 田中さんはサッカーが好きです。 | Tanaka likes soccer. |
| 私は納豆が嫌いです。 | I dislike natto. |
Note: the object of 好き/嫌い takes が, not を. This is a fixed pattern.
上手, 下手, 得意 & 苦手
Beyond 好き/嫌い, there's another set of high-frequency な-adjectives describing ability:
| Word | Reading | Meaning | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 上手 | じょうず | skilled (about others) | 田中さんは英語が上手です。 |
| 下手 | へた | unskilled (about others) | 私は料理が下手です。 |
| 得意 | とくい | good at (about yourself) | 私は数学が得意です。 |
| 苦手 | にがて | not good at / uncomfortable with | 私はスポーツが苦手です。 |
Same pattern as 好き: A は B が 上手です / 得意です
上手 vs 得意: Talking About Yourself
Use 上手 for others, 得意 for yourself:
| Situation | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Complimenting others | 上手 | 田中さんは歌が上手です。(Tanaka is good at singing.) |
| Describing yourself | 得意 | 私は歌が得意です。(I'm good at singing.) |
Saying 「私は歌が上手です」 sounds like bragging and is unnatural in Japanese.
The "Trap List" to Memorize
N5-level "fake い-adjectives" (actually な-adjectives) you need to memorize:
| Looks like い-adjective | Actually | Proof |
|---|---|---|
| 好き | な-adjective | 好きな人 (not |
| 嫌い | な-adjective | 嫌いな食べ物 |
| きれい | な-adjective | きれいな花 (not |
| 有名 | な-adjective | 有名な人 |
Rough test: If removing the い still leaves a meaningful word (好き → 好), it might be a な-adjective. True い-adjectives become meaningless without い (大き → ?). But this is just a heuristic — the safest approach is simply to memorize them.
Wrap-Up
- 好き/嫌い/きれい/有名 end in い but are な-adjectives
- Before nouns, add な: 好きな人, きれいな花
- Negative uses ではありません: 好きではありません (not
好きくない) - Objects of 好き/嫌い/上手/下手/得意/苦手 take が: 日本語が好きです
- Compliment others with 上手, describe yourself with 得意
Practice
Q1. Which is correct for きれい + 花 (flower)? A. きれい花 B. きれいな花 C. きれくない花
Show Answer
B. きれいな花
きれい is a な-adjective, so it needs な before a noun. A is missing な, and C uses い-adjective negation (きれくない), which is wrong.
Q2. Say "I like music" in Japanese. (music = 音楽 おんがく)
Show Answer
私は音楽が好きです。
The object of 好き takes が. は marks the topic (私), が marks the object (音楽), 好きです is the predicate.
Q3. Which is correct: 「嫌いではありません」 or 「嫌くないです」?
Show Answer
嫌いではありません is correct.
嫌い is a な-adjective, so its negative form is ではありません. 「嫌くないです」incorrectly treats it as an い-adjective.