Stem suffixes 〜すぎる, 〜やすい, 〜にくい, 〜方
A2 「〜すぎる・〜やすい・〜にくい・〜方」 40 / 69
In short
Chop ます off the polite form and you are left with the ます-stem - 飲みます nomimasu -> 飲み nomi - and that stem is a docking point. Add すぎる for “too much”, やすい for “easy to”, にくい for “hard to”, and 方 kata for “the way of doing it”. Four suffixes, one stem, and a big chunk of everyday Japanese opens up.
The rule
The ます-stem (its grammatical name is 連用形 ren’yōkei) is the most productive base in the language. It behaves almost like a noun: on its own it already gives words such as 休み yasumi (“a break”), 帰り kaeri (“the way home”) and 始め hajime (“the start”). The four suffixes in this lesson all attach to that same stem, and each one turns the verb into a new word of a definite class.
Step 1 - Get the stem. Take the polite ます-form from lesson 7 and delete ます. 読みます -> 読み, 食べます -> 食べ, します -> し, 来ます -> 来 (ki). No group-by-group rules to memorise: if you can say the ます-form, you already have the stem.
Step 2 - Attach the suffix, then conjugate the suffix. The stem itself never changes again.
〜すぎる: “too much”, and it is a complaint. V-stem + すぎる says the action went past the acceptable point: 飲みすぎる nomisugiru (“drink too much”), 働きすぎる hatarakisugiru (“overwork”). It also mounts on adjectives - い-adjective (drop い) + すぎる: 高い -> 高すぎる takasugiru; な-adjective (drop な) + すぎる: 静かな -> 静かすぎる shizukasugiru. Two irregulars: いい/よい -> よすぎる yosugiru, and ない -> なさすぎる nasasugiru (an extra さ appears).
すぎる itself is a Group II (一段) verb, so it conjugates like 食べる: すぎます, すぎました, すぎない, すぎて. And the stem trick applies to すぎる too - drop ます and you get the noun 〜すぎ: 食べすぎ tabesugi (“overeating”), 働きすぎ hatarakisugi (“overwork”), used with です／だ.
The crucial point is the built-in negative evaluation. 高すぎます is not “very expensive”, it is “too expensive - I’m not buying it”. If you simply mean “very”, use とても totemo or すごく sugoku. (Casual speech does abuse すぎる as praise - おいしすぎる, “insanely good” - but keep that out of your polite sentences.)
〜やすい／〜にくい: the difficulty dial. V-stem + やすい = “easy to …”, V-stem + にくい = “hard to …”. The result is an ordinary い-adjective, so it inflects like 高い: 分かりやすかったです, 読みにくくて, 使いやすいペン. Both cover two situations:
- Ease for the doer (with verbs a person performs or experiences): 分かりやすい wakariyasui (“easy to understand”), 使いにくい tsukainikui (“awkward to use”).
- Tendency to happen (typically with intransitive verbs): 割れやすい wareyasui (“breaks easily”), 疲れやすい tsukareyasui (“gets tired easily”). Here nobody is trying - it is just what tends to occur.
〜づらい 〜zurai (from 辛い tsurai, “painful”) is a near-synonym of にくい that adds discomfort for the speaker: 言いづらい iizurai (“hard to bring myself to say”), 歩きづらい arukizurai (“uncomfortable to walk in”). Small print is 読みにくい (an objective property); a topic you would rather avoid is 言いづらい. にくい is the safer default.
These are not the potential form. Lesson 37 states whether something is possible at all; やすい／にくい grade how hard it is. 使いやすい (“easy to use”) is not 使える (“usable”), and 読みにくい means it can be read, only with effort - if it cannot be read, say 読めません.
〜方: “the way of doing it”. V-stem + 方 (kata) makes a noun meaning “how to …”: 読み方 yomikata (“how to read it, the reading”), 使い方 tsukaikata (“how to use it”), 作り方 tsukurikata (“how to make it”), やり方 yarikata (“the way it’s done”). Because the whole thing is a noun, the verb’s object can no longer take を - it is linked with の: 漢字を書きます -> 漢字の書き方 kanji no kakikata. Other particles survive and simply add の: 駅へ行きます -> 駅への行き方 eki e no ikikata. The two workhorse sentences are 〜方が分かりません (“I don’t know how to …”) and 〜方を教えてください (“please tell me how to …”).
する has no usable し方: use やり方, or the noun pattern 〜の仕方 〜no shikata - 勉強の仕方 benkyō no shikata, 説明の仕方 setsumei no shikata.
A pronunciation note on 方. In these compounds かた is not a separate word: 読み方 is one four-mora word, not 読み followed by 方, and it carries a single accent pattern of its own. Many of them are flat - 使い方 tsukaikata is said with no pitch drop at all, and 読み方 is heard both flat and with a drop on か. Keep them apart in reading, too: 方 = かた (“way of doing”), 方 = ほう (the side/direction of 〜のほうが in lesson 31), and 方 = かた meaning “person” in あの方 ano kata - a polite word, not this grammar.
Forms & patterns
One stem, four suffixes. Take the ます-form, delete ます, attach.
| Verb | Group | ます-form | Stem | +すぎる | +やすい | +方 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 読む yomu (read) | I (五段) | 読みます | 読み yomi | 読みすぎる yomisugiru | 読みやすい yomiyasui | 読み方 yomikata |
| 使う tsukau (use) | I (五段) | 使います | 使い tsukai | 使いすぎる tsukaisugiru | 使いやすい tsukaiyasui | 使い方 tsukaikata |
| 食べる taberu (eat) | II (一段) | 食べます | 食べ tabe | 食べすぎる tabesugiru | 食べやすい tabeyasui | 食べ方 tabekata |
| する suru (do) | irregular | します | し shi | しすぎる shisugiru | しやすい shiyasui | - (use やり方／〜の仕方) |
| 来る kuru (come) | irregular | 来ます | 来 ki | 来すぎる kisugiru | 来やすい kiyasui | - |
What すぎる attaches to. Only すぎる takes adjectives as well as verbs.
| Base | How it attaches | Example | Romaji |
|---|---|---|---|
| verb | ます-stem | 飲みます -> 飲みすぎる | nomisugiru |
| い-adjective | drop the final い | 高い -> 高すぎる | takasugiru |
| いい／よい | irregular よ〜 | いい -> よすぎる | yosugiru |
| ない | insert さ | ない -> なさすぎる | nasasugiru |
| な-adjective | drop な | 静かな -> 静かすぎる | shizukasugiru |
| noun form | drop ます from すぎます | 食べすぎ（です） | tabesugi |
すぎる conjugates as a Group II verb, exactly like 食べる.
| Form | Example | Romaji |
|---|---|---|
| polite non-past | 食べすぎます | tabesugimasu |
| polite past | 食べすぎました | tabesugimashita |
| plain / dictionary | 食べすぎる | tabesugiru |
| plain negative | 食べすぎない | tabesuginai |
| て-form | 食べすぎて | tabesugite |
やすい／にくい conjugate as い-adjectives, and nothing else in the word moves.
| Form | 分かりやすい | 読みにくい |
|---|---|---|
| polite non-past | 分かりやすいです wakariyasui desu | 読みにくいです yominikui desu |
| polite past | 分かりやすかったです wakariyasukatta desu | 読みにくかったです yominikukatta desu |
| polite negative | 分かりやすくないです wakariyasuku nai desu | 読みにくくないです yominikuku nai desu |
| て-form | 分かりやすくて wakariyasukute | 読みにくくて yominikukute |
| adverbial | 分かりやすく wakariyasuku | 読みにくく yominikuku |
| before a noun | 分かりやすい本 wakariyasui hon | 読みにくい字 yominikui ji |
〜方 turns the clause into a noun phrase - so を becomes の.
| Plain sentence | With 〜方 | Romaji |
|---|---|---|
| 漢字を書きます | 漢字の書き方 | kanji no kakikata |
| カレーを作ります | カレーの作り方 | karē no tsukurikata |
| 駅へ行きます | 駅への行き方 | eki e no ikikata |
| 日本語を勉強します | 日本語の勉強の仕方 | Nihongo no benkyō no shikata |
Examples
- 昨日は少し飲みすぎました。 (Kinō wa sukoshi nomisugimashita.) - I drank a little too much yesterday.
- このかばんは高すぎます。 (Kono kaban wa takasugimasu.) - This bag is too expensive.
- 食べすぎはよくないです。 (Tabesugi wa yoku nai desu.) - Overeating is not good for you.
- 先生の説明は分かりやすいです。 (Sensei no setsumei wa wakariyasui desu.) - The teacher’s explanation is easy to understand.
- この字は小さくて読みにくいです。 (Kono ji wa chiisakute yominikui desu.) - This writing is small and hard to read.
- このコップは割れやすいので、気をつけてください。 (Kono koppu wa wareyasui node, ki o tsukete kudasai.) - This glass breaks easily, so please be careful.
- ちょっと言いづらいことがあります。 (Chotto iizurai koto ga arimasu.) - There is something I find a bit hard to say.
- すみません、この漢字の読み方を教えてください。 (Sumimasen, kono kanji no yomikata o oshiete kudasai.) - Excuse me, please tell me how to read this kanji.
- 駅への行き方が分かりません。 (Eki e no ikikata ga wakarimasen.) - I don’t know how to get to the station.
- 母にカレーの作り方を習いました。 (Haha ni karē no tsukurikata o naraimashita.) - I learned how to make curry from my mother.
Common mistakes
- このかばんは高いすぎます。 (Kono kaban wa takai sugimasu.) -> このかばんは高すぎます。 (Kono kaban wa takasugimasu.) - an い-adjective loses its final い before すぎる. The same cut you make for 高くない and 高かった.
- 昨日は食べますすぎました。 (Kinō wa tabemasu sugimashita.) -> 昨日は食べすぎました。 (Kinō wa tabesugimashita.) - the suffix lands on the bare stem, so ます goes away completely. Only the last element, すぎる, carries tense and politeness.
- 漢字を書き方を教えてください。 (Kanji o kakikata o oshiete kudasai.) -> 漢字の書き方を教えてください。 (Kanji no kakikata o oshiete kudasai.) - 〜方 makes the phrase a noun, and nouns are joined with の. The を you can see in the sentence belongs to 教える, not to 書く.
- この字は読めにくいです。 (Kono ji wa yomenikui desu.) -> この字は読みにくいです。 (Kono ji wa yominikui desu.) - にくい attaches to the plain ます-stem, never to the potential stem. Difficulty and possibility are two different statements: 読みにくい means you can read it with effort, 読めません means you cannot.
- この店はいいすぎます。 (Kono mise wa ii sugimasu.) -> この店はよすぎます。 (Kono mise wa yosugimasu.) - いい switches to よ〜 before every suffix (よかった, よくない, よすぎる). Note that 言いすぎる iisugiru is a real but unrelated word, “to say too much”.
Tips
- すぎる is a complaint, not a compliment. English “too” already carries the warning, so trust that instinct: if you would not say “too” in English, do not say すぎる. For plain praise or emphasis reach for とても totemo or すごく sugoku - 高すぎます is a reason to walk out of the shop, とても高いです is just a description.
- やすい／にくい is a dial, not a switch. The potential form (lesson 37) is on/off - possible or not. やすい and にくい sit in between and grade the effort. And do not confuse 〜にくい (“hard to do”) with 〜たくない (“don’t want to do”): 飲みにくい薬 is unpleasant to swallow, 飲みたくない薬 is one you are refusing.
- Learn the stem once, collect the rest for free. The same ます-stem also feeds 〜たい (lesson 14), 〜ながら (lesson 23), 〜に行きます (“go in order to …”), and the compound verbs 〜始める／〜続ける of lesson 48. Every one of those is “ます-form minus ます, plus something”.
- Three 方s, one kanji. かた after a stem = “how to” (使い方); ほう = “side”, the comparison word (こちらのほうが安いです); あの方 ano kata = a polite “that person”. Context and the words around it decide the reading, so read the whole phrase before you pronounce it.