Meaning & Usage
〜やすい (yasui) attaches to the masu-stem of a verb to say something is easy to do or tends to happen. It works in casual speech, product reviews, and formal prose — and appears far more often than most N5 learners expect.
やすい turns a verb into an い-adjective that describes the quality of an object or situation. 食べやすい means "easy to eat." 書きやすい means "easy to write with." The subject performing the action is usually implied by context, or marked with は or が.
English needs a full phrase: "this pen is easy to write with." Japanese just attaches やすい to the verb stem — 書きやすい. No extra words. The meaning is immediate.
やすい also carries a second meaning: tends to / prone to. 壊れやすい means fragile — literally "tends to break." 忘れやすい means "prone to forgetting." With inanimate objects, it describes a tendency. With people, it describes a habit or disposition. Both uses are equally common.
やすい works across all speech levels — casual conversation, business email, formal text. It behaves exactly like a standard い-adjective: 大きい, 難しい, and やすい all follow the same conjugation rules. Know those patterns, and every form of やすい follows automatically.
Structure & Formation
To form 〜やすい, you need the masu-stem of the verb (also called the conjunctive form or verb stem). The masu-stem is what you get when you take the ます form of a verb and remove ます.
| Verb type | Dictionary form | Masu form | Masu-stem | + やすい |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| U-verb | 書く | 書きます | 書き | 書きやすい |
| U-verb | 読む | 読みます | 読み | 読みやすい |
| Ru-verb | 食べる | 食べます | 食べ | 食べやすい |
| Ru-verb | 見る | 見ます | 見 | 見やすい |
| Irregular | する | します | し | しやすい |
| Irregular | くる | きます | き | きやすい |
Because やすい is an い-adjective, it conjugates like any other い-adjective:
- Present positive: 書きやすい — easy to write
- Present negative: 書きやすくない — not easy to write
- Past positive: 書きやすかった — was easy to write
- Past negative: 書きやすくなかった — was not easy to write
You can also use 〜やすい to modify a noun directly (attributive use). Place the やすい expression before the noun: 読みやすい本 (a book that is easy to read), 使いやすいアプリ (an easy-to-use app).
Example Sentences
Basic Examples — Objects
このペンは書きやすいです。
Kono pen wa kakiyasui desu.
This pen is easy to write with.
この本は読みやすいです。
Kono hon wa yomiyasui desu.
This book is easy to read.
この料理は食べやすいです。
Kono ryouri wa tabeyasui desu.
This dish is easy to eat.
About People — Tendencies
私は風邪をひきやすいです。
Watashi wa kaze wo hikiyasui desu.
I tend to catch colds easily.
彼は泣きやすいです。
Kare wa nakiyasui desu.
He tends to cry easily.
私は名前を忘れやすいです。
Watashi wa namae wo wasureyasui desu.
I tend to forget names easily.
Adjective Modifying a Noun
分かりやすい説明をありがとう。
Wakariyasui setsumei wo arigatou.
Thank you for the easy-to-understand explanation.
使いやすいアプリがほしいです。
Tsukaiyasui apuri ga hoshii desu.
I want an easy-to-use app.
住みやすい町に引っ越したいです。
Sumiyasui machi ni hikkoshitai desu.
I want to move to an easy-to-live-in town.
Negative Form
この漢字は覚えやすくないです。
Kono kanji wa oboeyasuku nai desu.
This kanji is not easy to remember.
この道は歩きやすくありません。
Kono michi wa arukiyasuku arimasen.
This road is not easy to walk on.
Past Tense
あの先生の授業は分かりやすかったです。
Ano sensei no jugyou wa wakariyasukatta desu.
That teacher's class was easy to understand.
この靴は歩きやすかったです。
Kono kutsu wa arukiyasukatta desu.
These shoes were easy to walk in.
その問題は解きやすかったです。
Sono mondai wa tokiyasukatta desu.
That problem was easy to solve.
Common Mistakes
Mistake 1: Using the dictionary form instead of the masu-stem
❌ 食べるやすい ✅ 食べやすい
Take the ます form and drop ます — that's your stem. 食べる → 食べます → 食べ → 食べやすい. For う-verbs: 書く → 書きます → 書き → 書きやすい. The dictionary form never connects directly to やすい.
Mistake 2: Confusing やすい (easy to do) with 安い (cheap)
❌ このペンは安いです。 (intended meaning: easy to write with)
✅ このペンは書きやすいです。
安い means cheap. The grammar suffix やすい is always hiragana and always attaches to a verb stem. When you see standalone 安い written with kanji, it's describing a price, not a difficulty level.
Mistake 3: Forgetting to conjugate やすい as an い-adjective
❌ この本は読みやすいじゃなかった。
✅ この本は読みやすくなかった。
やすい is an い-adjective. Negate it with くない — not じゃない. じゃない is for nouns and な-adjectives only. The past tense is やすかった, not やすいでした. If you recently learned noun and な-adjective conjugation, watch out — those patterns don't carry over.
Mistake 4: Using the wrong particle in やすい sentences
❌ この本が読みやすい人はたくさんいます。(unnatural for simple statements)
✅ この本は読みやすいです。
When やすい acts as a predicate, mark the topic with は for a general statement. は says "as for this thing — it's easy to read." It's almost always the right choice here. Reserve が for contrast or specific identification.
Mistake 5: Confusing やすい with にくい
❌ この字は読みやすいです。 (when the meaning intended is "hard to read")
✅ この字は読みにくいです。
やすい and にくい attach to the exact same stem by the exact same rule. The only difference is direction: やすい = easy, にくい = hard. On exams, these two appear side by side specifically to test whether you read the sentence carefully. Easy → やすい. Hard → にくい.
Cultural Notes
分かりやすい — easy to understand — is one of the highest compliments you can give a teacher, presenter, or writer. Telling someone 「先生の説明は分かりやすかったです」 lands as genuine praise. It signals clarity, not just politeness.
Product reviews are full of やすい. 使いやすい (easy to use), 読みやすい (easy to read), 聞きやすい (easy to listen to) — these show up constantly in app stores, book reviews, and podcast ratings. Knowing them pays off quickly when you start reading real Japanese.
The tendency meaning also connects to a softer style of self-description. Saying "I am a forgetful person" is a strong, fixed label. 忘れやすいです frames the same idea as a tendency — provisional, lighter. Japanese speakers often choose this kind of framing when describing themselves or others.
やすい also turns up in very practical contexts. Product packaging: 開けやすい (easy to open). Real estate listings: 住みやすい街 (a livable neighborhood). Restaurant menus: 食べやすいサイズ (bite-sized portions). It's a short suffix that earns its place across every domain.
Related Grammar Points
- なる — To Become (Grammar N5)
- にくい — Hard To Do (Grammar N5)
- すぎる — Too Much / Excessively (Grammar N5)
- Past Tense of I-Adjectives — かった (Grammar N5)
- い-Adjective — Usage & Conjugation (Grammar N5)
- Negative I-Adjective: くない (ku nai) (Grammar N5)
JLPT Tips
On the JLPT N5 exam, 〜やすい may appear in reading comprehension passages, grammar fill-in-the-blank questions, or sentence ordering tasks. The core skill being tested is whether you can correctly identify the masu-stem of a given verb and attach やすい to it.
In fill-in-the-blank questions, always convert the verb to its masu-stem first. This is the single most tested point for this grammar pattern. If the verb given is 食べる, the correct stem is 食べ (not 食べる) — then add やすい.
In reading sections, watch for やすい used attributively before nouns — for example, 読みやすい本 (a book that is easy to read) or 分かりやすい説明 (an easy-to-understand explanation). Recognizing these compound modifiers quickly will help your reading speed on the exam.
A common distractor in multiple-choice questions is confusing やすい (easy to do) with にくい (hard to do). Read the sentence carefully for context. Clues like "convenient," "simple," or "everyone can do it" point toward やすい. "Complicated," "uncomfortable," or "difficult" point toward にくい.
Finally, remember that やすい conjugates as an い-adjective. If a question tests the past tense or negative form, apply standard い-adjective rules: やすい → やすかった (past affirmative), やすくない (present negative), やすくなかった (past negative). Sentence transformation questions on JLPT N5 frequently test exactly this conjugation, so drill all four forms until the pattern is automatic.