Japanese Grammar In Its Natural Habitat
Wild Nihongo!
~やすい

~やすい

~やすい Japanese Grammar Lesson

Grammar Type: Auxiliary Adjective

Essential Meaning: Easy to X / Easily X

Construction: 

  • Verb ます-Form + やすい
    • E.g. 話はなしやすい [Easy to speak]
    • E.g. 食たべやすい [Easy to eat]

Notes:

  • The auxiliary adjective ~やすい means “Easy to X“. The antonym of ~やすい is ~にくい, which means “Hard to X“. ~やすい and ~にくい are grammatically identical.
    • E.g. 食たべにくい [Hard to eat]
    • E.g. 食たべやすい [Easy to eat]
  • Because ~やすい is an い-Adjective, verbs that are modified by ~やすい behave and conjugate as い-Adjectives.
    • E.g. 話はなしやすかった。[It was easy to speak.]
    • E.g. 話はなしやすくなかったです。[It wasn’t easy to speak.]
  • If the subject of the construction Verb ます-Form + やすい is under focus in the sentence, that subject is typically marked by が or は.
    • E.g. A: どの先生せんせいが話はなしやすいですか。B: 佐藤さとう先生せんせいが話はなしやすいです。[A: Which teacher is easy to speak to? B: Sato-sensei is easy to speak to.] The subjects are marked by が in this example.
    • E.g. あの人ひとのうちは見みつけやすい。[That person’s house is easy to find.] The subject is marked by は in this example.
  • Note that other noun marking particles such as で, と (Reciprocal Relationship), に (Indirect Object), and を (Direct Object) are not used in conjunction was ~やすい. They are dropped or replaced by が or は.
    • E.g. *このペンで書かきやすい。[This pen is easy to write with.] で is not used in conjunction with ~やすい.
    • E.g. *佐藤さとう先生せんせいには話はなしやすいです。[Sato-sensei is easy to speak to.] に (Indirect Object) is not used in conjunction with ~やすい.
    • E.g. *あの人ひとのうちを見みつけやすい。[That person’s house is easy to find.] を (Direct Object) is not used in conjunction with ~やすい.
    • E.g. *上野うえのさんと一緒いっしょに仕事しごとがしやすかった。[Ueno-san was easy to work with.] と (Reciprocal Relationship) is not used in conjunction with ~やすい.

Example Sentences:

あの人ひとのうちは見みつけやすい。[That person’s house is easy to find.]

佐藤さとう先生せんせいが話はなしやすいです。[Sato-sensei is easy to speak to.]

このペンは書かきやすい。[This pen is easy to write with.]

上野うえのさんは一緒いっしょに仕事しごとがしやすかった。[Ueno-san was easy to work with.]

豆腐とうふは腐くさりやすい。[Tofu spoils easily.]

WILD Examples:

Listen to this line from 1:47: 酒さけが空あいたグラスあればすぐに注つぎなさい、みんながつまみやすいように串くし外はずしなさい [If there’s an empty glass, fill it immediately…Separate the food from the skewers so that it’s easy for everyone to snack.]

***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.***