CHAPTER VII.
The Adjective.
PRIMARY INFLECTIONS.
175. Compressed into as narrow a space as possible, for the benefit of the superficial student, the salient points of the primary inflections of adjectives in the Tokyo Col- loquial might be described as follows :
I. Adjectives have a form in z, which is both attributive and predicative, that is to say that it may be used either prefixed to a noun or else at the end of a sentence with the English verb " to be " understood, thus :
Takai ycuna, A high Yama ga takai, The mountain mountain. is high.
Samui kaze, A cold Kaze ga saimti, The wind is wind. cold.
N. B. Ga must not be mistaken for the equivalent of the English word " is." It is a postposition serving to denote the nominative case. (See p. 57.)
II. Adjectives have a form in 6 or u t which is used in- stead of the form in i when gozaimasu, the polite verb for " to be," is expressed ; thus :
Yama ga tako gozaimasii. The mountain is high.
Kaze ga samil gozaimasho. The wind will probably be
cold.
