Is It Easy Or Is It Difficult?
“They say the world has become too complex for simple answers. They are wrong.” - Ronald Reagan
Now it’s time to practice everything you’ve learned. To sum it up for you, here’s what you’ll need to learn to get through this page:
- にくい, and how to use it with verbs
- やすい, and how to use it with verbs
- い adjective conjugation
If you know those three things, then you’re right on track and shouldn’t have any trouble.
In the following exercises, I’m going to show you a picture and ask you a question. Your job is to come up with an answer using either にくい or やすい (sometimes it will just depend on your opinion). Practice by writing out the answers or saying them out loud. The main thing is that you’re processing and coming up with your own answers, knowing why the grammar works (rather than just running copypasta from previous examples). Let’s get started:
These are rocks (いし). What do you think about eating rocks?
いし は たべにくい です
What about holding these particular rocks?
いし は もちやすい です
いし は もちにくい です
Now let’s talk about birthdays. Is it easy or difficult for you to sing the song “Happy Birthday” (ハッピーバースディ)?
ハッピーバースディ は うたいやすい です
ハッピーバースディ は うたいにくい です
What about eating the cake (ケーキ)?
ケーキ は たべやすい です
ケーキ は たべにくい です
What about listening to all the うるさい children (こども), screaming and causing a fuss?
こども は ききにくい です
Was it easy or difficult to buy the present (プレゼント)?
プレゼント は かいやすかった です
プレゼント は かいにくかった です
Let’s take a look at the next picture. What about milk (ぎゅうにゅう)? Is it easy for you to drink, or difficult?
ぎゅうにゅう は のみやすい です
ぎゅうにゅう は のみにくい です
What happened when you tried to pick up and hold the dog? Was she easy to hold? Or difficult to hold?
犬 は もちやすかった です
犬 は もちにくかった です
Now, before we end, how about the Japanese language? Is it hard to learn or easy to learn?
にほんご は ならいやすい です (good!)
にほんご は ならいにくい です (keep studying, it’ll get better!)
Hopefully by the end of all that, you have a better idea of how to use にくい and やすい. There are other ways to say whether or not a verb / subject is easy or difficult (we’ll get into that after you learn casual form in Season 5), but this should give you a really good start, and plus you got to learn a really useful grammar point (and practice stem form, as well as い adjective conjugations).
Before you move on to the next chapter (second to last of this season!) make sure you keep studying your vocab – it’ll be so important you know them all by Season 5, and I just want to make sure you’ve had enough time to practice (and not wait to the last minute!). If you don’t study your vocab, well, then you might start saying that にほんご は ならいにくい です!
Oh, before you move on, add these two words (にくい and やすい) to your “TextFugu Vocab” deck. It’ll be good to know these words, even though they’re kind of like grammar, too.
やすい and にくい on Anki