Lesson 81 of 126

The lesson

8.7 Ease, difficulty, and excess

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Overview

Learn to describe how easy or difficult something is with やすい and にくい, and how to say something is excessive or too much using すぎる.

～やすい — easy to do

～やすい is used to say that something is easy or tends to happen easily.

Structure:

Verb（ます-stem）＋やすい

。

This kanji is easy to remember.

。

This pen is easy to write with.

。

This road is easy to walk on.

It is an い-adjective, and it can be conjugated as one:

。

This explanation was easy to understand.

～にくい — hard to do

～にくい expresses that something is difficult to do, often due to circumstances rather than ability.

Structure:

Verb（ます-stem）＋にくい

。

This character is hard to read.

。

His story is hard to believe.

。

This box is hard to open.

Like ～やすい, this also behaves as an い-adjective.

。

The explanation was hard to understand.

～やすい and ～にくい are direct opposites.

。

This book is easy to read.

。

This book is hard to read.

～すぎる — too much / excessively

～すぎる means that something is too much or excessive. It can attach to verbs, adjectives, and nouns.

Structure:

Verb (ます-stem) + すぎる
い-adjective: Drop い and add すぎる
な-adjective + すぎる

。

I ate too much.

。

I studied too much.

。

This problem is too difficult.

。

It is too hot today.

。

This room is too quiet.

。

He is too serious.

Points to keep in mind

～やすい — easy to do
～にくい — hard to do
Both attach to the ます-stem
Both behave like い-adjectives
～すぎる attaches to verbs and adjectives to express excess

Dialogue

せんじつ先日、あたらしい新しいにほんご日本語のきょうかしょ教科書をかいました買いました。このほん本はとてもよみやすくて読みやすくて、せつめい説明もわかりやすいです。いぜん以前つかっていた使っていたほん本はじ字がちいさくて小さくてよみにくかったです読みにくかったです。きょう今日はだいさん第三か課のかんじ漢字をれんしゅう練習しました。いくつかはかき書きやすかったのですが、かくすう画数がおおい多いじ字はやはりかきにくいです書きにくいです。よる夜、こうひいコーヒーをのみすぎてしまった飲みすぎてしまったせいで、なかなかねむれませんでした眠れませんでした。そのせいでけさ今朝はおきる起きるのがおそすぎて遅すぎて、あさごはん朝ごはんをたべる食べるじかん時間がありませんでした。ひる昼にともだち友達とらんちランチをたべました食べましたが、つら辛すぎてあまりたべられませんでした食べられませんでした。でも、しょくご食後のでざあとデザートはとてもたべ食べやすくて、おいしかったです。かえり帰りにほんや本屋によって寄って、よみやす読みやすそうなしょうせつ小説をいっさつ一冊えらびました選びました。

The other day I bought a new Japanese textbook. This book is very easy to read and the explanations are easy to understand too. The book I used before had small characters and was hard to read. Today I practised the kanji from Chapter 3. Some were easy to write, but characters with many strokes are still hard to write. Because I drank too much coffee last night, I couldn't get to sleep easily. Because of that, I woke up too late this morning and didn't have time to eat breakfast. At lunchtime I had lunch with a friend, but it was too spicy and I couldn't eat much. The dessert after the meal, though, was very easy to eat and delicious. On the way home I stopped at a bookshop and chose a novel that looked easy to read.

Grammar

Title	Description
～やすい	easy to do (verb stem + やすい)
～にくい	hard to do (verb stem + にくい)
～すぎる	too much / excessively (verb stem or adjective + すぎる)

8.6 To notice/realize

8.8 Making an effort vs change over time

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