安い

Usage

安い (cheap, inexpensive) is an い-adjective and the price opposite of 高い (expensive). It is neutral: it only says the price is low. Before a noun 安い店, 安い服; as predicate この店は安いです; with a verb the adverb 安く: 安く買いました.

• Negative: 安くない(です)
• Past: 安かった(です)
• Past negative: 安くなかった(です)
• て-form: 安くて (安くておいしい = cheap and tasty)
• Adverb: 安く (安くなる = get cheaper, 安くする = lower the price)

Comparison happens around the adjective, which never changes shape: もっと安い (cheaper), これより安い (cheaper than this), 一番安い (the cheapest). Two neighbours to keep apart: the verb suffix ～やすい (easy to …: 読みやすい, 分かりやすい) is written in kana and has nothing to do with price, and the kanji 安 in 安全 (あんぜん, safe) and 安心 (あんしん, relief) means ‘at ease’, not ‘cheap’.

Examples

• この店は安くておいしいです。（この みせ は やすくて おいしい です）— This restaurant is cheap and good.
• もっと安いのはありませんか。（もっと やすい の は ありません か）— Do you have a cheaper one?
• 昨日買った靴は安かったです。（きのう かった くつ は やすかった です）— The shoes I bought yesterday were cheap.
• 今日は野菜が安いです。（きょう は やさい が やすい です）— Vegetables are cheap today.

Traps for Spanish, English and French speakers

• English ‘cheap’ can mean shoddy, so English speakers avoid 安い when praising a bargain; 安い is as neutral as Spanish ‘barato’ or French ‘pas cher’ (安くていい店 is a compliment). ‘Cheap-looking’ is 安っぽい.
• Learners who know 高い as ‘tall, high’ use 安い as its opposite everywhere: 安い建物 for a low building. 安い only opposes 高い for prices; for height the opposite is 低い (ひくい): 低い建物, 背が低い.
• The IME converts やすい to 安い by default, so ‘easy to read’ gets typed as 読み安い. The suffix is kana-only 読みやすい, and ‘easy’ on its own is 簡単 or 易しい, never 安い.