大(おお)きい

おおきい
adjective (i-adjective)
big, large
Conjugation
AffirmativeNegative
Present大(おお)きい大(おお)きくない
Past大(おお)きかった大(おお)きくなかった
て form大(おお)きくて大(おお)きくなくて
Adverbial大(おお)きく—
Conditional ば大(おお)きければ大(おお)きくなければ
Conditional たら大(おお)きかったら大(おお)きくなかったら
1. big, large (in size)
Describes physical size. Used for objects, spaces, animals, and anything that can be measured by size. The opposite is 小(ちい)さい (chiisai, small).
大(おお)きい犬(いぬ)だ。
It's a big dog.
この家(いえ)は大(おお)きいです。
This house is big.
もっと大(おお)きいのはありますか。
Do you have a bigger one?
この部屋(へや)は思(おも)ったより大(おお)きかった。
This room was bigger than I thought.
彼(かれ)の夢(ゆめ)は大(おお)きくて、いつか世界中(せかいじゅう)を旅行(りょこう)したいと言(い)っている。
His dreams are big—he says he wants to travel around the world someday.
2. loud (of sound/voice)
When describing voices or sounds, 大(おお)きい means loud. 大(おお)きい声(こえ) (ookii koe) means a loud voice.
声(こえ)が大(おお)きい。
Your voice is loud.
もっと大(おお)きい声(こえ)で。
Louder, please.
テレビの音(おと)が大(おお)きすぎる。
The TV is too loud.
大(おお)きい音(おと)で起(お)きた。
I woke up to a loud noise.
隣(となり)の部屋(へや)から大(おお)きい音(おと)が聞(き)こえてきて、眠(ねむ)れなかった。
I couldn't sleep because of the loud sounds coming from the next room.

大(おお)きい is one of the most fundamental i-adjectives. It describes physical size (big, large) and also sound volume (loud).

FORMS:

  • Adverbial: 大(おお)きく
  • Negative: 大(おお)きくない
  • Past: 大(おお)きかった
  • Attributive: 大(おお)きい犬(いぬ) (big dog)

SPECIAL FORM — 大(おお)きな:
大(おお)きな is a special attributive-only form that can only appear before nouns: 大(おお)きな家(いえ) (a big house). Unlike 大(おお)きい, it cannot be used predicatively (*家(いえ)は大(おお)きなだ is wrong). Both forms are interchangeable as noun modifiers.

SENSE 2 — LOUD:
When used with 声(こえ) (voice) or 音(おと) (sound), it means "loud": 大(おお)きい声(こえ)で話(はな)す (to speak in a loud voice).

ANTONYM:
小(ちい)さい: small (also has a special form 小(ちい)さな)

Related Words

Antonym: 小(ちい)さい (small, little)
basic
Added 2026.1.5 19:28 · Revised 2026.3.31 16:54
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