JLPT N5 · い-adjective

小さい (chiisai)

小さい (ちいさい, chiisai) is a Japanese い-adjective meaning “small; little”. It appears in JLPT N5 vocabulary lists and is marked as a common word in JMdict.

Reading: ちいさい
Romaji: chiisai
Word class: い-adjective
Level: JLPT N5 (unofficial)

Meaning

small; little; tiny · い-adjective
slight; below average (in degree, amount, etc.); minor; small · い-adjective
low (e.g. sound); soft (e.g. voice) · い-adjective
unimportant; petty; insignificant; trifling; trivial · い-adjective
young; juvenile · い-adjective

Example sentences

その机はメグには小さすぎる。

The desk is too small for Meg.

Tatoeba #211564

Sentences from the Tatoeba project, linked to this word in JMdict.

Conjugation of 小さい

い-adjective. Plain and polite forms below; try any other word in the Japanese verb conjugator.

Form	Japanese	Reading
Present	小さい	ちいさい chiisai
Negative	小さくない	ちいさくない chiisakunai
Past	小さかった	ちいさかった chiisakatta
Negative past	小さくなかった	ちいさくなかった chiisakunakatta
Te-form	小さくて	ちいさくて chiisakute
Adverb (~ku)	小さく	ちいさく chiisaku
Conditional (~ba)	小さければ	ちいさければ chiisakereba

Kanji in 小さい

小

little, smallショウ・ちい.さい・こ- · 3 strokes

Related words

Other vocabulary sharing a kanji with 小さい.

小さなちいさなsmall小説しょうせつnovel小鳥ことりsmall bird小学校しょうがっこうprimary school小しょうsmallness小包こづつみparcel小麦こむぎwheat小屋こやhut小銭こぜにsmall change小こsmall小指こゆびlittle finger縮小しゅくしょうreduction小数しょうすうfraction (part of)小便しょうべんurine

Source: JMdict entry 1347750 (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0). Level: unofficial JLPT list – how levels are assigned.