おおい / おおぜい / たくさん Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: い-Adjective
Essential Meaning: Many / A lot of / Much
Construction: い-Adjective
Notes:
- おおい (多い in kanji) is an い-Adjective that indicates that there is a large number or quantity of some thing. It is analogous to to the English adjectives “Many” or “Much“. One important note is that, unlike other い-Adjectives, 多い can not be used directly before the noun it modifies. Instead, it must be used as the predicate of a clause.
- E.g. 猫が多い。[There are many cats.] In this example, 猫 is the subject (marked by が), and 多い is the predicate.
- If 多い is used as the predicate of a relative clause, 多い may appear directly before a noun (but not before the noun that it modifies). One exceptional structure to note is 多くの, which is primarily used in formal written Japanese to directly modify nouns.
- E.g. お寺が多い町は京都です。[The town that has a lot of temples is Kyoto.] In this example, 多い directly precedes the noun 町, but 多い actually modifies the word お寺 as the predicate of the relative clause “お寺が多い”.
- E.g. 多くの学生が毎年アジアから日本の大学にくる。[Every year, a large number of students come to Japanese universities from across Asia.] Note that in this example 多くの directly precedes the noun that it modifies (i.e. 学生).
- おおぜい (大勢 in kanji) means “A large crowd of people” or “In great numbers“. It is very similar to 多い, but it can only be used when referring to human beings. 多い and 多くの can be replaced by 大勢いる and 大勢の respectively.
- E.g. この部屋には学生が大勢いる。[In this room, there are many students.]
- E.g. この部屋には大勢の学生がいる。[In this room, there are many students.]
- 大勢 can be used on its own adverbially, but 多い can not.
- E.g. 学生が大勢きた。[The students came in droves.]
- E.g. *学生が多くきた。[The students came in droves.] 多い can not be used adverbially.
- たくさん [Many] is another common word that is similar in meaning to 多い. The adjective forms 多い and 多くの can be replaced by たくさんある/いる and たくさんの, respectively. たくさん can also be used by itself adverbially.
- E.g. Adjectival たくさん: この部屋には学生がたくんいる。[In this room, there are many students.]
- E.g. Adverbial たくさん: 今年はたくさん雪が降った。[This year, a lot of snow fell.]
- E.g. Adjectival たくさん: この部屋には机がたくさんある。[In this room, there are many desks.]
- The adverbial form 多く may be used as a noun in position B of the structure AのB. This creates a noun phrase meaning “The majority of A”. 大勢 and たくさん can not be used as nouns in this way.
- E.g. 学生の多くは男だ。[The majority of students are male.]
- E.g. *学生の大勢は男だ。[The majority of students are male.]
- E.g. *学生のたくさんは男だ。[The majority of students are male.]
- すくない [Few] is the antonym of 多い. Unlike 多い, すくない can not be used as a noun (i.e. の多く) or as a direct noun modifier (i.e. 多くの).
- E.g. この町は車が少ない。[In this town, there are few cars.]
- E.g. 日本語の新聞が読める学生は少ない。[There are few students who can read Japanese newspapers.]
Example Sentences:
日本には大学が多い。[There are many universities in Japan.]
京都にはお寺が多いです。[There are many temples in Kyoto.]
ロスさんの作文は間違いが多いです。[Ross’s composition has many mistakes.]
一月は雪が多い。[There is a lot of snow in January.]
WILD Examples:
***YouTube videos may be region-locked depending on your country of origin. If you experience issues, please try using a VPN set to a United States IP address.***