い adjective conjugation question

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Dante17

先輩

3 Dec 2013

185

1

• 14 Jul 2014

• #1

Hi there, I've encountered a problem when conjugating I adjectives. For example;

We have かわいい which has the stem of かわい so it should conjugate like this:

Present affirm: かわいいです

Present neg: かわくないです

Past affirm: かわいかったです

Past neg: かわくなかったです

Now, obviously when conjugated negatively く replaces the final い of the stem but here comes my problem. I've seen people conjugating it without removing the い and creating conjugations such as:

かわいくないです

Or

かわいくなかったです


And I must ask, who is wrong here? Me or the people who conjugate in this way? My book has stated quite clearly that く replaces the final い syllable when conjugated negatively for い adjectives.


Could someone please elaborate what going on here? I'm very confused.

 

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Dante17

先輩

3 Dec 2013

185

1

• 14 Jul 2014

• Thread starter
• #2

Also, I must ask how does one properly find a stem of an い adjective. Don't you have to remove the final い？ Eg: さむい becomes さむ?

 

abhishek

先輩

22 Apr 2014

53

1

• 14 Jul 2014

• #3

Dante17 said:

Present affirm: かわいいです

Present neg: かわくないです

Past affirm: かわいかったです

Past neg: かわくなかったです

Click to expand...

kawaii is written as 可愛い。
Present affirm:
可愛い [か.わい.い]
Present Negative：
可愛くない「か.わい.くない」
Past affirm:
可愛かった 「か.わい.かった」
Past Negative：
可愛くなかった「か.わい.くなかった」


note:
from the attached pic, いい is irregular!

 

abhishek

先輩

22 Apr 2014

53

1

• 14 Jul 2014

• #4

Dante17 said:

Also, I must ask how does one properly find a stem of an い adjective. Don't you have to remove the final い？ Eg: さむい becomes さむ?

Click to expand...

right... then why you said this:

Dante17 said:

Present affirm: かわいいです

Present neg: かわくないです

Past affirm: かわいかったです

Past neg: かわくなかったです

Click to expand...

 

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Dante17

先輩

3 Dec 2013

185

1

• 14 Jul 2014

• Thread starter
• #5

I'm sorry, I'm way too confused right now. I'm not understanding that if く replaces the last い in the stem of a verb you can conjugate かわいくない for present negative... Why is the い there? God, this should be so basic to me by now but it's wracking my mind. As for my asking about how to find a stem, I asked because I am uncertain on if removing the い creates the stem or not. I assume it is as the stem of かわいい is かわい.

 

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Dante17

先輩

3 Dec 2013

185

1

• 14 Jul 2014

• Thread starter
• #6

And are you saying that because there is a double いい in かわいい that it follows irregular conjugation rules?

 

lanthas

　

27 Apr 2014

940

243

• 14 Jul 2014

• #7

かわいい is a completely regular い-adjective. If you take off the last い and append くない, you get かわいくない, not かわくない (that would mean you took off the last *two* い's).

 

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Dante17

先輩

3 Dec 2013

185

1

• 14 Jul 2014

• Thread starter
• #8

Oh! So it's taking an い off from the present affirmative conjugation!?

 

nekojita

先輩

14 Jan 2009

1,660

444

• 14 Jul 2014

• #9

The only irregular one I can think of other than いい is かっこいい (conjugates the same way as いい). Just watch out for things like きれい and きらい which are な adjectives.

 

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

Twenty-year veteran

15 Mar 2002

16,758

2,298

• 14 Jul 2014

• #10

It clearly says the final い....

Pay attention to seemingly insignificant stuff like that and you'll save yourself a lot of needless anguish.

 

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Dante17

先輩

3 Dec 2013

185

1

• 14 Jul 2014

• Thread starter
• #11

Ah, but I thought it was referring to the final い of the stem ( if present ). It'd have helped if it said the final い of the present affirmative conjugation.

 

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Dante17

先輩

3 Dec 2013

185

1

• 14 Jul 2014

• Thread starter
• #12

Just to confirm, it is the final い of the present tense conjugation that is replaced with く in the negative?

 

nekojita

先輩

14 Jan 2009

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444

• 14 Jul 2014

• #13

Yes. If something is described as a "stem", generally they mean that part doesn't conjugate.