〜すぎる

This week we studied appending the verb すぎる as a suffix to adjectives and verbs to express "too much X". We tend to "talk large" down here in Texas, so being able to say that something is "too this" or "too that" is just great.

For 〜i adjectives, drop the "i" and add some conjugation of sugiru. たとえば (for example)

• small: 小さい　ちいさい
  ー＞　ちいさすぎる: too small
• hot: 暑い　あつい　ー＞　あつすぎる too hot
• long: 長い　ながい　ー＞　ながすぎる too long

For 〜na adjectives, drop the "na" and add some conjugation of sugiru. For verbs, replace 〜masu with 〜sugiru.

I notice that ちょっと(a bit) and ね (isn't it?) are used in most of the sample sentences to make the opinions sound less strident. A few months ago, Mieko noticed the same thing and wondered if we could say in English, "It's a little big." "It's a little too big." "It's a bit much." "It's a bit too much." And yes, we can. What I like about Japanese is that you can say 「ちょっと。。。」 ("It's a bit..." ) and the listener fills in the blank. I'm sure this will come in handy on those days when I forget how to conjugate 〜すぎる.

Let's Practice!

テキサス州の夏は暑すぎると思います。イギリスに住みたいですけど冬は寒すぎる。イギリス人夫はテキサス州に住むのがイギリスに住むのより好きです。イギリスで雨が降りすぎると言います。

I think the summers in Texas are just too hot. I'd like to live in England, but the winters there are too cold. My husband, the Brit, likes living in Texas better than living in England. He says it rains too much in England.