少ない

Japanese

Kanji in this term
すく
Grade: 2
kun’yomi
Alternative spellings
尠い (obsolete)
寡い (obsolete)
尠ない
寡ない

Etymology

From Old Japanese. Possibly related to 少し (sukoshi). Possibly cognate with the ku part in (iku).

Pronunciation

  • (Tokyo) くな [sùkúnáꜜì] (Nakadaka – [3])[1]
  • IPA(key): [sɨ̥ᵝkɯ̟ᵝna̠i]
  • Tokyo pitch accent of inflected forms of "少ない"
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Continuative (連用形) 少なく なく
くな
[sùkúꜜnàkù]
[sùkúnáꜜkù]
Terminal (終止形) 少ない くな [sùkúnáꜜì]
Attributive (連体形) 少ない くな [sùkúnáꜜì]
Key constructions
Informal negative 少なくない なくない
くなくない
[sùkúꜜnàkùnàì]
[sùkúnáꜜkùnàì]
Informal past 少なかった なかった
くなかった
[sùkúꜜnàkàttà]
[sùkúnáꜜkàttà]
Informal negative past 少なくなかった なくなかった
くなくなかった
[sùkúꜜnàkùnàkàttà]
[sùkúnáꜜkùnàkàttà]
Formal 少ないです くないです [sùkúnáꜜìdèsù]
Conjunctive 少なくて なくて
くなくて
[sùkúꜜnàkùtè]
[sùkúnáꜜkùtè]
Conditional 少なければ なければ
くなければ
[sùkúꜜnàkèrèbà]
[sùkúnáꜜkèrèbà]

Adjective

(すく)ない • (sukunai) -i (adverbial (すく)なく (sukunaku))

  1. not many, few, little
    ここは、(ひと)(すく)ない
    Koko wa, hito ga sukunai.
    There are few people here.
    ()(とし)は、(ゆき)(すく)ない
    Kotoshi wa, yuki ga sukunai.
    It snows little this year.

Usage notes

  • 少ない cannot modify a noun to mean the referents of the noun are few.
    • Incorrect:
      (すく)ない(ひと)sukunai hitofew people
    • Correct:
      友達(ともだち)(すく)ない(ひと)tomodachi ga sukunai hitoa person with few friends
    • To modify a noun, use (すこ) (sukoshi no), わずか (wazuka na), 数少(かずすく)ない (kazusukunai), etc.
  • The negative form has no limitation.
    • Correct:
      (すく)なくない(ひと)sukunaku nai hitoquite a few people

Inflection

Antonyms

Derived terms

References

  1. NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
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