JLPT N4 · い-adjective

怖い (kowai)

怖い (こわい, kowai) is a Japanese い-adjective meaning “scary; frightening”. It appears in JLPT N4 vocabulary lists and is marked as a common word in JMdict.

Reading: こわい
Romaji: kowai
Word class: い-adjective
Level: JLPT N4 (unofficial)

Meaning

scary; frightening; eerie; dreadful · い-adjective

Example sentences

彼は君がヘビが恐いのかしらと思っている。

He wonders if you are afraid of snakes.

Tatoeba #108071

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

Conjugation of 怖い

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

Form	Japanese	Reading
Present	怖い	こわい kowai
Negative	怖くない	こわくない kowakunai
Past	怖かった	こわかった kowakatta
Negative past	怖くなかった	こわくなかった kowakunakatta
Te-form	怖くて	こわくて kowakute
Adverb (~ku)	怖く	こわく kowaku
Conditional (~ba)	怖ければ	こわければ kowakereba

Kanji in 怖い

怖

dreadful, be frightened, fearfulフ・ホ・こわ.い・こわ.がる · 8 strokes

Related words

Other vocabulary sharing a kanji with 怖い.

恐怖きょうふfear

Source: JMdict entry 1593480 (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0). Level: unofficial JLPT list – how levels are assigned.