I recently started using Wanikani (after getting through learning hiragana and katana really easily thanks to Tofugu), and i’m currently still in level 1. I just unlocked the 大きい vocabulary entry, and one of the example sentence is “このサンダルは大きすぎる。”, which has 大きい spelt “大き”
What is the reason for that? I’m guessing it’s some kind of grammar rule i’ll learn later, i may even have encountered it without realizing it as i didn’t bother reading the example sentences until a couple lessons ago, but i’m curious about it. Should i just try not to think about it and for now?
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すぎる is a helper verb or suffix, depending on how you want to look at it. It means “too much x”, and attaches to the stem of the adjective, which in the case of い verbs is the form you get after removing the い
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That’s the すぎる conjugation.
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大きい is the base word. 大きすぎる means too big. Just like how 大きくない means not big. It’s a good thing for you to learn though because すぎる is an N5 grammar point.
https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/すぎる-sugiru-過ぎる-meaning/
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大きい is an い-adjective. When conjugating, they usually lose the い from the end.
大きい is big
大きくない is not big
大きかった was big
大きなかった wasn’t big
大きすぎる too big
大きくなります becomes big
and so on and on
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wouldn’t it be nice if it was 大きくすぎる so that everything matched, but language doesn’t work like that.
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Careful! Wasn’t big → 大きくなかった (ookikunakatta)
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