Everyday Japanese ㊾
Everyday Japanese ㊾
(Explessing difficulty:やすい yasui、にくいnikui)
- Stem of Verbs + やすい: Easy to Do
e.g., ひらがなはおぼえやすいです。(Hiragana wa oboeyasui desu.)
Hiragana is easy to memorise.
* The origin of やすい comes from the word “易(やす)い: easy.” By attaching やすい, you express “easy to do” in Japanese. Volitional verbs should be used here. After the conjugation, you need to treat it as an i-adjective.
この地図(ちず)は見(み)やすいです。(Kono chizu wa mi yasui desu.)
This map is easy to see.
- Stem of Verbs + にくい: Difficult to Do
e.g., 漢字(かんじ)はおぼえにくいです。(Kanji wa oboe nikui desu.)
Kanji is difficult to memorise.
* This is the antonym of “Verb + やすい” and indicates “difficult to do” by attaching にくい with volitional verbs. When you want to express a person who feels difficulty like “it’s difficult for me” in English, you use the particle に which is often used with は.
わたしにとって、ビールは飲(の)みにくいです。
(Watashi ni totte, bi-ru wa nominikui desu.)
It is difficult for me to drink beer.
Cited from
https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-grammar/how-to-express-difficulty-and-possibility/
