Latest / Learn Japanese with Fexingo / Japanese Opposite Adjectives - Tall & Short
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, welcome back. Ready to learn some Japanese today? Luna: Yes, I am! I've been practicing our last episode on 'easy' and 'difficult'. 日本語は難しいです, but I'm getting there. Lucas: That's great. And speaking of height — today we're going to learn two opposite adjectives: 高い and 低い. Luna: 高い and 低い? What do they mean? Lucas: 高い means 'tall' or 'high', and 低い means 'short' or 'low'. Let me say them slowly: たかい, ひくい. Luna: たかい... ひくい. Got it. Can you use them in a sentence? Lucas: Sure. あのビルは高いです. That building is tall. Luna: あのビルは高いです. And for short? Lucas: この机は低いです. This desk is low. Luna: この机は低いです. Now I remember we learned 机 means desk. So this desk is low. Lucas: Exactly. And you can also use these for people's height. 彼は背が高いです — he is tall. 彼女は背が低いです — she is short. Luna: 背 means height, right? So 背が高い is 'height is tall'. That makes sense. Lucas: Yes. Repeat after me: 彼は背が高いです. Luna: 彼は背が高いです. Lucas: 彼女は背が低いです. Luna: 彼女は背が低いです. Let me try a sentence on my own. あの猫は背が低いです? Lucas: Oh, that's cute! 'That cat is short.' Actually, cats are usually low to the ground, so あの猫は低いです works. But you can say 背が低い for animals too. Luna: Oh, good. So 低い is versatile. Lucas: Very. Let's do a quick story. Imagine you're in a furniture store. You see a tall bookshelf and a low table. You say: この本棚は高いです, but このテーブルは低いです. Luna: この本棚は高いです。このテーブルは低いです。I can picture it. The bookshelf reaches the ceiling, and the table is like a coffee table. Lucas: Perfect. Now, let's practice one more time. 高い. Luna: 高い. Lucas: 低い. Luna: 低い. Lucas: あのビルは高いです. Luna: あのビルは高いです. Lucas: この机は低いです. Luna: この机は低いです. Lucas: You know, if you're finding these episodes helpful for building your Japanese step by step, and you want to support the show, listeners like you are what keep Fexingo going. Luna: Yeah, it's ad-free because of that support. If you'd like to help out, you can buy us a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a small gesture that goes a long way. Lucas: And even just practicing these words every day helps. So let's do one more round. 高い and 低い are so useful for describing things around you. Luna: I'll start looking at everything and thinking: is it 高い or 低い? Lucas: That's the spirit. Keep practicing, and next time we'll learn more opposites. Until then, sayonara! Luna: Sayonara!