硬い
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Base i-adjective form ending in 『い』. Describes physical hardness, rigidity, or inflexibility, often for materials or objects.
Theme
In a pottery class, User and their instructor Mika are working with clay and discussing its properties.
硬い
かたい
hard, firm, solid (in a physical or rigid sense)
Core Language Building BlocksCore Adjectives
Memory Hook
Picture a 'hard' (硬い) candy that's so solid it might break your teeth. Think of 'kō' (like 'cold' in sound) → 硬い (katai, 'hard / Firm / Solid').
Cultural Note
『硬い』 (katai) is commonly used for physical hardness, such as hard materials like metal or ice. In everyday life, you might hear it in contexts like 『硬いパン』 (katai pan, 'hard bread') or 『硬い地面』 (katai jimen, 'hard ground').
Forms
Base: 硬いBase i-adjective form ending in 『い』. Describes physical hardness, rigidity, or inflexibility, often for materials or objects.
Negative: 硬くないDrop 『い』 → add 『くない』 (kunai, negative) → 『硬くない』 (katakunai).
Past: 硬かったDrop 『い』 → add 『かった』 (katta, past) → 『硬かった』 (katakatta).
Adverbial: 硬くDrop 『い』 → add 『く』 (ku, adverbial) → 『硬く』 (kataku).
Comparative: より硬いComparative formed with modifier 『より』 (yori, 'more than') + base adjective.
Superlative: 一番硬いSuperlative formed with 『一番』 (ichiban, 'number one / Most') + adjective.