i-adjective stem

〜くあるべきだN3

should do; ought to do

〜くなくてN4

not… and; because (one) doesn't

〜くないことはないN2

it's not that you can't do; possible after all, if reluctantly

〜くてN5

and; and then; by doing — joins one part to the next

〜かったらN5

if; when; once — after the condition completes

〜ければN4

if — general, lawlike condition

〜くてもN5

even if; even though; no matter

〜くてよかったN4

I'm glad I did; it turned out well that…

〜ければ〜ほどN4

the more you do X, the more Y — two things rising together

〜がるN3

shows signs of; acts — someone else's feeling read off how they behave

〜くてN4

because; and so — a cause and the reaction it produces

〜そうだN4

looks like; about to; seems (from appearance)

いちばん〜くN5

the most; number one

〜すぎるN5

too …; overdo

〜さN4

〜さ — turns an adjective into a noun naming its amount

〜くなどN4

and so on; such as — a sample list, not the whole set

〜くなるN5

become; get -er

〜くするN4

make it -er — somebody changes how much of a quality something has

〜く見みえる〜く聞きこえる

looks; sounds — how a thing strikes the eye or ear

〜っぽいN3

-ish; has a whiff of

〜げN2

with a look of; an ...-ish air — a feeling on the surface

〜ぶる

put on airs of; act like — a quality that isn't really there

あまり〜くないN5

not much; not very — needs the sentence to end in a negative

全然ぜんぜん〜くない

not at all — the far end of "not much"

少すこしも〜くないN2

not in the least — "not even a little," for verbs and adjectives

ほとんど〜くないN2

hardly any; almost none — so little that it rounds down to nothing

〜くともN3

even if; no matter how — literary, on the 〜おう／〜よう form or the く form

〜くてはN2

if you (go on) doing that — and it will end badly

〜くてならないN2

can't help feeling X; X uncontrollably — feeling words only

〜くてたまらないN3

unbearably X; X so much I can't stand it — any strong feeling

〜く、

cutting part of a sentence at ます-stem or an adjective's く-form; written

ちっとも〜くない

not one bit — the spoken absolute, and almost always a complaint

だんだん〜くなるN5

gradually; little by little — a change that accumulates step by step

いくら〜くてもN5

no matter how much — no degree changes the outcome

決けっして〜くないN3

never; by no means — a flat denial, a promise or a verdict

〜かったっけN3

was it …? — asks for something you once knew and have forgotten

ますます〜くなるN2

more and more; increasingly — a trend already under way is pushed further

全まったく〜くないN2

not at all — or "utterly," before an already-absolute word

〜みN2

〜み — turns an adjective into a noun you can feel or hold

もし〜かったらN5

if; supposing — marks what follows as only a guess

次第しだいに〜くなるN2

gradually; by degrees — a change that arrives in steps

そんなに〜くない

not that much — denies a degree just proposed; or bare, that much

そう〜くないN2

not all that … — the written twin of そんなに〜ない, denying a degree already raised

たいして〜くないN2

not particularly — falls short of a degree someone had in mind

たとえ〜くてもN2

even if; even supposing — the concession is announced as purely hypothetical

〜くてしょうがないN2

unbearably X — the spoken way to say a feeling won't let up

〜くて当然とうぜんだN2

it's only natural to; deserves it — a direct, expected consequence

〜ければいいのに

I wish it were so — said against a fact that is otherwise