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Verb & Adjective Suffixes

Learn the Japanese suffixes すぎる (too much), やすい (easy to), and にくい (hard to) that attach to verb stems and adjective roots.

Verb & Adjective Suffixes

Japanese has a set of highly productive suffixes that attach to verb stems and adjective roots to express degree and tendency. The three most common are すぎる (too much / excessively), やすい (easy to do), and にくい (hard to do).

These suffixes are simple to form and extremely frequent in everyday Japanese. They attach to the masu-stem of verbs (the form you get by removing ます) and to the root of adjectives (remove い from い-adjectives). Once attached, they behave as regular conjugatable words themselves — すぎる conjugates as an ichidan verb, while やすい and にくい conjugate as い-adjectives.

すぎる — Too Much / Excessively

すぎる expresses excess — doing something too much or being too [adjective]. It attaches to the masu-stem of verbs and the root of adjectives.

Formation:
  • Verb masu-stem + すぎる: 食べ + すぎる → 食べすぎる (eat too much)
  • い-adjective root + すぎる: 高 + すぎる → 高すぎる (too expensive)
  • な-adjective + すぎる: 静か + すぎる → 静かすぎる (too quiet)
すぎる itself is an ichidan (ru-) verb, so it conjugates normally:
  • 食べすぎた (ate too much — past)
  • 飲みすぎない (don't drink too much — negative)
  • 高すぎて買えない (too expensive and can't buy — te-form)

すぎる always carries a negative nuance — it implies the degree is undesirable or problematic.

For the special adjective いい (good), use よすぎる (too good), not いすぎる. Similarly, ない (not) becomes なさすぎる (too lacking / not enough): 時間がなさすぎる (there's too little time).

Examples

  • 昨日、食べすぎて気持ち悪くなった。

    Yesterday, I ate too much and felt sick.

  • この映画は長すぎる。

    This movie is too long.

  • コーヒーを飲みすぎた。

    I drank too much coffee.

  • この問題は簡単すぎます。

    This problem is too easy.
やすい — Easy to Do

やすい expresses that an action is easy to perform, or that something has a tendency to happen. It attaches to the masu-stem of verbs.

Formation:
  • Verb masu-stem + やすい: 読み + やすい → 読みやすい (easy to read)
  • 分かり + やすい → 分かりやすい (easy to understand)
  • 壊れ + やすい → 壊れやすい (breaks easily / fragile)
The result is an い-adjective, so it conjugates like one:
  • 読みやすくない (not easy to read)
  • 読みやすかった (was easy to read)
  • 読みやすくて (easy to read, and...)

やすい has two uses:1. Ease: describes how easy it is for a person to do something — 使いやすい (easy to use)2. Tendency: describes something's natural tendency — 風邪をひきやすい (prone to catching colds)

Examples

  • この本は読みやすい。

    This book is easy to read.

  • この靴は歩きやすい。

    These shoes are easy to walk in.

  • 彼女は話しやすい人だ。

    She's an easy person to talk to.

  • このペンは書きやすくて好きです。

    I like this pen because it's easy to write with.
にくい — Hard to Do

にくい is the counterpart of やすい — it expresses that an action is hard to perform. It also attaches to the masu-stem of verbs.

Formation:
  • Verb masu-stem + にくい: 読み + にくい → 読みにくい (hard to read)
  • 分かり + にくい → 分かりにくい (hard to understand)
  • 壊れ + にくい → 壊れにくい (hard to break / durable)
Like やすい, the result is an い-adjective:
  • 読みにくくない (not hard to read)
  • 読みにくかった (was hard to read)
  • 読みにくくて (hard to read, and...)

にくい similarly has two uses:1. Difficulty: describes how hard it is for a person to do something — 食べにくい (hard to eat)2. Resistance: describes something's resistance to a change — 壊れにくい (hard to break / durable)

にくい expresses objective difficulty or resistance. Don't confuse it with づらい, which expresses subjective discomfort or psychological difficulty. 言いにくい means 'hard to say' (e.g., a tongue twister), while 言いづらい means 'hard to say' (e.g., delivering bad news — emotionally uncomfortable).

Examples

  • この字は読みにくい。

    This writing is hard to read.

  • この靴は歩きにくい。

    These shoes are hard to walk in.

  • 彼は話しにくい人だ。

    He's a hard person to talk to.

  • このボタンは押しにくい。

    This button is hard to press.
Conjugation Summary

Since these suffixes produce regular conjugatable words, they integrate smoothly into any sentence pattern.

すぎる conjugates as an ichidan verb:
  • すぎます (polite), すぎた (past), すぎない (negative), すぎて (te-form)
やすい / にくい conjugate as い-adjectives:
  • やすいです (polite), やすかった (past), やすくない (negative), やすくて (te-form)
  • にくいです (polite), にくかった (past), にくくない (negative), にくくて (te-form)
All three can also combine with なる to express change:
  • 読みやすくなった (became easier to read)
  • 歩きにくくなった (became harder to walk)
  • 食べすぎるようになった (started eating too much)

Examples

  • 食べすぎないでください。

    Please don't eat too much.

  • 昨日は飲みすぎました。

    Yesterday I drank too much.

  • 読みやすくなりました。

    It became easier to read.

  • 歩きにくくなった。

    It became harder to walk.
Verb & Adjective Suffixes | 2hongo