いちばん

いちばん Japanese Grammar Lesson

Grammar Type: Adverb

Essential Meaning: Most / -est

Construction: 

• いちばん + (い-Adjective / な-Adjective)
  • E.g. いちばん高たかい [The highest]
  • E.g. いちばん静しずかだ [The quietest]

• いちばん + い-Adjective Stem + く
  • E.g. いちばん高たかく[Most highly]

• いちばん + な-Adjective Stem + に
  • E.g. いちばん静しずかに [Most quietly]

Notes:

• いちばん (一番いちばん in kanji) is a superlative marker. With adjectives, it is equivalent to the superlative adjective suffix “-est” as in “Biggest“, “Ugliest“, or “Longest“. With adverbs, it is equivalent to “Most X“, as in “Most highly” or “Most quickly“.

• Note that since 一番いちばん is an adverb, it can not be affixed directly to nouns. For example, “#1 Friend” can not be expressed as 一番いちばんともだち in Japanese. Instead, an adjective such as いい [Good] can be used in conjunction with 一番いちばん (e.g. 一番いちばんいいともだち [Best Friend]). That being said, the adjective or adverb that follows 一番いちばん is sometimes omitted in casual speech if the context is obvious.
  • E.g. 松本まつもとさんと池田いけださんと清水しみずさんのなかで、だれが一番いちばん(よく)できますか。[Among Matsumoto-san, Ikeda-san, and Shimizu-san, who can do it the best?] Here, the adverb よく [Well] may be omitted since it is clear from context that the speaker is referring to how well the three teachers can do something.

Example Sentences:

クラスの中なかで大川おおがわさんが一番いちばん頭あたまがいい。[In this class, Ogawa is the smartest.]

この中なかでどの映画えいがが一番いちばんおもしろいですか。[Among these films, which is the most interesting?]

松本まつもとさんと池田いけださんと清水しみずさんのなかで、だれが一番いちばん(よく)できますか。[Among Matsumoto-san, Ikeda-san, and Shimizu-san, who can do it the best?]

WILD Examples:

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