易い · i-adjective
| Form | Positive | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Dictionary | 易い | 易くない |
| Polite | 易いです | 易くないですalso 易くありません |
| Past polite | 易かったです | 易くなかったですalso 易くありませんでした |
| Past | 易かった | 易くなかった |
| Te-form | 易くて | 易くなくて |
| Adverbial | 易く | |
| Conditional | 易ければ | 易くなければ |
| Tara conditional | 易かったら | 易くなかったら |
Standalone adjective meaning something is easy to do or understand. Often used in the pattern 〜が易しい, but 易い is a slightly more literary or formal variant compared to 易しい (やさしい).
This problem is easy.
I chose the easy path.
likely to ...; have a tendency to ...
Attaches to the -masu stem of verbs to express that something tends to happen or is prone to happening. Often implies an undesirable or unintentional tendency.
He is forgetful and tends to forget promises.
This glass breaks easily.
easy to ...
Attaches to the -masu stem of verbs to express that something is easy to do. Unlike sense 2, this sense focuses on the ease of performing the action, not a tendency.
This pen is easy to write with.
These shoes are easy to walk in.
This book is easy to read.
やすい attaches to a verb stem to mean 'easy to do', the opposite of 難い(がたい) which means 'hard/nearly impossible to do'.
易い (やすい) means 'easy', the classical opposite of 難い meaning 'difficult', as seen in the saying 生は難く死は易し.
brittle; fragile; easily broken