I Love Kanji少ない (sukunai)
少ない (すくない, sukunai) is a Japanese い-adjective meaning “few; little”. It appears in JLPT N5 vocabulary lists and is marked as a common word in JMdict.
- Reading
- すくない
- Romaji
- sukunai
- Word class
- い-adjective
- Level
- JLPT N5 (unofficial)
Meaning
- few; little; small (amount); low; scarce · い-adjective
Example sentences
Sentences from the Tatoeba project, linked to this word in JMdict.
Conjugation of 少ない
い-adjective. Plain and polite forms below; try any other word in the Japanese verb conjugator.
| Form | Japanese | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Present | 少ない | すくない sukunai |
| Negative | 少なくない | すくなくない sukunakunai |
| Past | 少なかった | すくなかった sukunakatta |
| Negative past | 少なくなかった | すくなくなかった sukunakunakatta |
| Te-form | 少なくて | すくなくて sukunakute |
| Adverb (~ku) | 少なく | すくなく sukunaku |
| Conditional (~ba) | 少なければ | すくなければ sukunakereba |
Kanji in 少ない
Related words
Other vocabulary sharing a kanji with 少ない.
少しすこしa little少女しょうじょgirl (usu. between 7 and 17)少々しょうしょうa little少年しょうねんboy減少げんしょうdecrease多少たしょうa little少しもすこしも(not) at all青少年せいしょうねんyoung people (ages 12 to 25)少なくともすくなくともat least
Source: JMdict entry 1348910 (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0). Level: unofficial JLPT list – how levels are assigned.