| Shiro, shiroki or shiroi. | Shiroi kumo, a white cloud. |
| Samu, samuki or samui. | Samui fuyu, a cold winter. |
| Taka, takaki or takai. | Takaki yama, a high mountain. |
The syllable shi affixed to the root designates the predicative form of the adjective. In the common colloquial, the terminal syllable i is also used to express the predicative, as:—
| Shiro, shiroshi. | Kumo ga shiroshi or shiroi, the cloud is white. |
| Samu, samushi. | Fuyu ga samushi or samui, winter is cold. |
| Taka, takashi. | Yama ga takashi or takai, the mountain is high. |
The form ending in shi is only used in books, and marks the end of a sentence. The syllable ku affixed to the root designates the adverbial or indefinite form of the adjective, as: shiro, shiroku; samu, samuku; taka, takaku. Shiroku naru, to become white. Samuku nai, not cold. Takaku suru, to make high. This form never ends a sentence. In the colloquial, the k of the last syllable is often rejected, and the u joined to the vowel of the penultimate; thus, shiroku is contracted to shirou, pronounced shirō; hayaku becomes hayau, or hayō; yoku becomes you, or yō; waruku becomes warū.
The comparative degree is expressed by the aid of yori, kara or nao, as: yuki wa kono kami yori shiroi, snow is whiter than this paper; kyō wa kinō yori samui, to-day is colder than yesterday; nao yoi, better; nao warui, worse.
The superlative is expressed by the use of certain adverbs, as: mottomo, itatte, goku, shigoku, hanahada, ito, dai-ichi no, ichi-ban.
Adjectives are formed from nouns by the use of the post-position no, or by the substantive verb naru, or its contraction na, as: Makoto no kokoro, a sincere heart; uso no hanashi, a false story; ishi no hotoke, a stone idol; akiraka naru tsuki, a clear moon; hinkyū na hito, a poor man; shōjiki naru hito, an honest man.
Or, by affixing rashiki, or rashii, a contraction of aru shiki, to be like, as: Onna-rashii, like a woman; otoko-rashii, like a man; kodomo-rashii, like a child; makoto-rashii, like the truth, plausible. Sometimes by affixing gamashii, supposed to be a contraction of kamagamashi, the same as kama-bisushii, noisy and annoying; thus; iken-gamashii, jōdan-gamashii, kurōgamashii.
There is a class of adjectives formed from verbs by means of shiki, or shiku, to spread or cover over, which might be called verbal adjectives; as osoroshiki, contracted to osoroshii, fearful; yorokobashii, causing one to be full of joy, joyful; imawashii, causing disgust, odious; so also, kirawashii, kurushii, kuyashii, negawashii, koishii, netamashii, etc.
Those forms of the verb which end in u, ta, taru, or shi also perform the office of adjectives; as: Ie ni sumu hito, (lit., dwelling in the house man) the man who dwells in the house; akuru toshi, the opening year, or next year; hako ni aru mono, (lit., have in the box things) the things which are in the box; teppō wo utta
