連体詞 – Examples of Rentaishi Adjectives in Japanese
Rentaishi (連体詞) are a type of adjectives in Japanese only come before nouns. They do not come at the end of a sentence like other nouns. Below I will introduce the most common ones of them
INDEX
同じ
同じ (おなじ）means the same.
同じ人
onaji hito
The same person
今と同じように
ima to onaji youni
The same as now
同じことを繰り返す
onaji koto wo kurikaesu
to repeat the same thing
大きな・小さな・可笑しな
大きな , 小さな, and おかしな (おおきな、ちいさな、おかしな) have the same meaning as 大きい, 小さい, and おかしい respectively. 大きな is big, 小さな small and おかしな strange or funny. Depending on the noun they come before they may make the phrase mean something different however.
大きな声で話す
ookina koe de hanasu
to speak with a big voice / loud voic
田舎の小さな町
inaka no chiisana machi
A small town in the country
おかしな話
okashi na hanashi
strange talk
わが
我が（わが）translates to my when talking about your self and our when talking about more than just yourself.
我が家に帰る
waga-ya ni kaeru
to return to my house
わがままな人
waga-mama na hito
selfish person
こちらはわが社の製品です
kochira ha waga-sha no seihin desu
This is our companies product
大した
大した（たいした）is used to describe something that is great, grand or spectacular. It is most of the time though used with ない to say something is not all that important or not all that great.
大したことないよ
taishita koto nai yo
That is not important / not spectacular
これは大した問題じゃないよ
kore ha taisita mondai janai yo
This is not a great problem
大した意味はないよ
taishita imi ha nai yo
It does not really mean anything
ちょっとした
ちょっとした is used to say something is just a little bit or slightly something.
ちょっとしたことで喜ぶ
chotto shita koto de yorokobu
to get excited over something small
今朝車にちょっとしたトラブルがあったため、仕事に遅れてしまった
kesa kuruma ni chotto shita toraburu ga atta tame, shigoto ni okurete simatta
I was late to work because I had a little trouble with my car
ちょっとした話がある
chotto shita hanashi ga aru
I have a little something to talk about
とんだ
とんだ is an abbreviated form of とんでもない. It means something that is unexpected, outrageous and even unwanted.
とんだことになった
tonda koto ni natta
Something unbelievable happened
とんだ目に会う
tonda me ni au
Something unexpected happened
いろんな
いろんな is the same as 色々な（いろいろな）and means various.
いろんな人が集まる
ironna hito ga atsumaru
various people are getting together
この言葉にいろんな意味がある
kono kotoba ni ironna imi ga aru
This word has alot of meanings
その問題についていろんな意見があると思う
sono mondai ni tsuite ironna iken ga aru to omou
I think there are various opinions about that problem
単なる
単なる (たんなる) is used to say something is merely simple or unremarkable.
太郎と次郎が同じ服を着ているのは単なる偶然です
tarou to jirou ga onaji fuku wo kiteiru no ha tannaru guuzen desu
It was just a mere coincidence that Taro and Jiro are wearing the same clothes
いかなる
いかなる is a stylistic way of saying any. Usually you would use the word なんでも for any in normal speech. So, 何の人でも means any person. If you wanted to sound more expressive you could say いかなる人 which would also mean the same thing.
いかなる場合にも使える言葉
ikanaru ba-ai nimo tsukaeru kotoba
A word that you can use in any situation
さらなる
さらなる can mean further or even more.
さらなる情報を求める
saranaru jouhou wo motomeru
to look for further information
さらなる進化を欲しがる
saranaru shinka wo hoshigaru
to want further progression
ほんの
ほんの means only or nothing but.
ほんの少し
honno sukoshi
Only a bit
ほんの一日前
honno ichinichi-mae
just a day ago
ほんの短い間
honno mijikai aida
just a small amount of time
ある
ある means certain. It is used when you want to say things such as, on a certain day, a certain person and so on without talking about specifics.
ある日、ある人がある場所であることをした
aru hi, aru hito ga aru basho de aru koto wo shita
on a certain day, a certain person did a certain thing at a certain place
いわゆる
いわゆる is the same as so-called. When you are talking about something that is well-known for a certain reason you would use いわゆる.
これはいわゆる日本の自動販売機
kore ha iwayuru nihon no jidouhanbaiki
This is the so-called Japanese vending machine
あらゆる
あらゆる is a stylistic way of saying every or all.
あらゆる角度から問題を考えたほうがいい
arayuru kakudo kara mondai wo kangaeta hou ga ii
You should look at the problem from all angles
あらゆる手段を使う
arayuru shudan wo tsukau
to use every method
あらゆる種類の食べ物
arayuru shurui no tabemono
every type of food
去る・来たる
去る(さる）and 来る(きたる）are from the two verbs come and go. They are used with dates mostly to say the last week, last month or next Thursday, next year for example.
去る5月
saru go-gatsu
Last May
来たる5月
kitaru go-gatsu
Next May
So now that you know some 連体詞, If you want to learn more Japanese I reviewed a dictionary of grammar series which I personally recommend and use myself.
I also have several other posts on various topics on Japanese Universe if you are interested.
Resources
Frequent Japanese words – ninjal
