さ / み Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Suffix
Essential Meaning: -ness / -ty
Construction:
- (い-Adjective / な-Adjective) Stem + さ
- E.g. 高さ [Height]
- E.g. 静かさ [Quietness]
- い-Adjective Stem + み
- E.g. 痛み [Painfulness]
Notes:
- さ is used to nominalize adjectives. For example, the adjective 黒い = black, while 黒さ = blackness, which can be used as a noun. Other examples include: 新しさ [Newness]、速さ [Speed]、長さ [Length]、白さ [Whiteness]、大きさ [Size]、強さ [Strength]、and よさ [Goodness]. Notice that よい is used rather than いい to create the noun form よさ.
- な-Adjectives are seldom used with さ, but some idiomatic examples include 便利さ [Convenient-ness]、忠実さ [Faithfulness]、のどかさ [Tranquilness]、正確さ [Correctness]、完璧さ [Perfection] and にぎやかさ [Liveliness]
- When a Japanese adjective has an adjectival antonym (e.g. big vs small, easy vs difficult, deep vs shallow), the positive counterpart tends to acquire the meaning of absolute degree (e.g. 大きさ means “size” and not just “bigness”; 重さ means “weight” and not just “heaviness”). Other examples include:
- E.g. 厚さ [Breadth] vs 薄さ [Thinness]
- E.g. 重さ [Weight] vs 軽さ [Lightness]
- E.g. 難しさ [Difficulty] vs やさしさ [Easiness]
- E.g. うれしさ [Joy] vs 悲しさ [Sadness]
- E.g. 深さ [Depth] vs 浅さ [Shallowness]
- E.g. 高さ [Height] vs 低さ [Lowness]
- E.g. 暑さ [Heat] vs 寒さ [Coldness]
- E.g. 濃さ [Density] vs 薄さ [Thinness]
- E.g. 大きさ [Size] vs 小ささ [Smallness]
- E.g. 広さ [Size of space] vs 狭さ [Smallness of space]
- E.g. 強さ [Strength] vs 弱さ [Weakness]
- み is another suffix that is used to nominalize adjectives. み is used in directly perceptual situations (whereas さ is more analytical and is used to measure some quality). In other words, さ indicates a degree or amount, and み indicates a state of being that is not objectively measurable. In Japanese, nasal sounds (e.g. み, む, et cetera) tend to be associated with concreteness and human perception.
- E.g. 厚みのあるカーペット [Carpet that has a feeling of depth] み indicates a general subjective feeling of depth that is not objectively measurable.
- E.g カーペットの厚さは3センチです。[The thickness of the carpet is 3 cm.] さ indicates a specific measurement of the carpet’s depth.
- E.g. あの人は面白みがないね。[That person doesn’t have a sense of interestingness.]
- E.g. *あの人は面白さがないね。[That person doesn’t have a measure of interestingness.] This sentence is strange because “interestingness” is not a measurable quantity. It does not fit with さ.
- E.g. 楽しみにしています。[I’m looking forward to it.]
- E.g. *楽しさにしています。[I’m looking forward to it.] This sentence is strange because “fun-ness” or “pleasure” is not an objectively measurable quantity. It does not fit with さ.
- み is used only with a limited number of い-Adjectives. They tend to be adjectives of perception:
- い-Adjectives of pain / pleasure:
- E.g. 痛み [Painfulness]
- E.g. 苦しみ [Painfulness]
- E.g. 悲しみ [Sadness]
- E.g. 楽しみ [Pleasure]
- い-Adjective of flavor:
- E.g. 旨み [Deliciousness / Savoriness]
- E.g. 辛み [Spiciness]
- E.g. 甘み [Sweetness]
- Other い-Adjectives
- E.g. 赤み [Reddishness]
- E.g. 暖かみ [Warmness]
- E.g. 厚み [Thickness]
- E.g. 深み [Depth]
- E.g. 弱み [Weakness]
- E.g. 強み [Strength]
- い-Adjectives of pain / pleasure:
Example Sentences:
このうちの広さはちょうどいい。[The size of this house is just right.]
富士山の高さはどのぐらいですか。[What this the approximate height of Mt. Fuji?]
日本語の難しさがよくわかりました。[I keenly understood the difficulty of Japanese.]
アメリカのよさはパイオニアスピリットでしょう。[Perhaps one of America’s good qualities is its pioneering spirit.]
WILD Examples:
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