When you’re learning Japanese, you’ll often want to talk about how easy or difficult it is to do something. That’s where the grammar patterns ～やすい and ～にくい come in handy!

These two endings attach to the stem of a verb to express whether an action is easy or hard to do.

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What Are ～やすい and ～にくい?

• ～やすい means “easy to do”
• ～にくい means “difficult/hard to do”

Both are na-adjective forms and modify verbs to describe how easy or difficult the action is.

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How to Form ～やすい and ～にくい

1. Take the verb stem (the verb without the ます ending).
2. Add やすい to say “easy to do”
3. Add にくい to say “hard to do”

Examples:

Verb (dictionary form)	Stem	～やすい (easy to)	～にくい (hard to)
たべる eat	たべ	たべやすい	たべにくい
かく write	かき	かきやすい	かきにくい
よむ read	よみ	よみやすい	よみにくい
のむ drink	のみ	のみやすい	のみにくい

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Usage in Sentences

• このケーキは食たべやすいです。
  This cake is easy to eat.
• このペンは書かきにくいです。
  This pen is hard to write with.
• この本ほんは読よみやすいけど、漢字かんじが多おおいから読よみにくいところもある。
  This book is easy to read, but since it has many kanji, there are parts that are hard to read.

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Notes and Tips

• ～やすい and ～にくい express a subjective feeling about the ease or difficulty of an action.
• They usually describe physical ease/difficulty but can also describe mental or abstract difficulty.
• Because these are adjectives, you can conjugate them:
  • 食たべやすくない (not easy to eat)
  • 書かきにくかった (was hard to write)

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Practice Time!

Try making sentences using ～やすい and ～にくい with these verbs:

• 見みる — to see
• 使つかう — to use
• 分わかる — to understand

Example:
この説明せつめいは分わかりやすいです。 (This explanation is easy to understand.)

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Summary

• Use verb stem + やすい = easy to do
• Use verb stem + にくい = hard to do
• They help you describe how simple or difficult an action is in Japanese.

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If you practice these patterns, you’ll be able to talk about your experiences and preferences more naturally in Japanese!
Happy studying! 😊

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