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Lesson 18: It wasn't quiet.
Click here for the kana version.

This lesson is a continuation of Lesson 15. Recall that Lesson 15 dealt with na adjectives. First let's review some na adjectives.

shizuka (na) quiet
genki (na) healthy/energetic
kantan (na) easy/brief/simple
hen (na) strange

So, for example we can make the following sentence:

Shizuka desu. It's quiet.

Now we need to think back to Lesson 1. Recall that we introduced two forms for negating nouns.

For example:

Neko dewa arimasen.     
It's not a cat.
Neko janai desu.    It's not a cat.

The way to negate na adjectives is the same as for nouns.

Examples:

Shizuka dewa arimasen.
It's not quiet.
Kantan janai desu.
It's not simple.

Easy enough? Now let's go back again; this time we need to go to Lesson 8. Recall that we introduced the way to say 'was' and 'wasn't.'

Example from Lesson 8:

Hon deshita.
It was a book.
Hon dewa arimasen deshita. It wasn't a book.

Again, the way to make na adjectives past tense or negative past tense is the same as nouns.

Examples:

Shizuka dewa arimasen deshita.
It wasn't quiet.
Kantan deshita.
It was simple.


These adjectives can still be used to modify nouns. Recall from Lesson 15 that when na adjectives come before a noun they need to have na after them.

Examples:

shizuka na heya quiet room
kantan na mondai simple problem

Now we can make our sentences as we normally would with plain nouns.

Examples:

Shizuka na heya deshita. It was a quiet room.
Kantan na mondai dewa arimasen deshita. It was not a simple problem.
   

Lesson 18 Vocabulary:

shizuka (na) quiet
genki (na) healthy/energetic
kantan (na) easy/brief/simple
hen (na) strange
   
heya room
mondai problem
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