高い
たかい
i-adjective
high, tall, expensive
Conjugation
| Affirmative | Negative | |
|---|---|---|
| Present | 高い | 高くない |
| Past | 高かった | 高くなかった |
| て form | 高くて | 高くなくて |
| Adverbial | 高く | — |
| Conditional ば | 高ければ | 高くなければ |
| Conditional たら | 高かったら | 高くなかったら |
1.
high, tall
Having great vertical extent. Used for buildings, mountains, or anything with height. 高い山 (a tall mountain).
2.
expensive
Costing a lot of money. The opposite of 安い (cheap).
3.
high (in level/degree)
Of great degree or intensity. 品質が高い (high quality), 熱が高い (high fever).
高い covers three things: physical height, price, and level or degree.
Usage
- Which sense is meant is read off the noun: a 高い山 is tall, a 高い本 is expensive
- For a person's height, Japanese says 背が高い, and modifies with 背の高い人. Plain 高い人 is not how you say "a tall person"
- The opposite depends on the sense: 低い for height and degree, 安い for price
- Adverbial 高く: 高く飛ぶ (fly high); noun form 高さ (height)
Common collocations
- 背が高い: tall (of a person)
- 熱が高い: running a high fever
- 値段が高い: expensive
- 品質が高い: of high quality
- 可能性が高い: likely
Pronunciation
In compounds the kanji is normally read こう: 高校 (high school), 高速 (high-speed).
Related Words
Antonym:
安い (cheap (price))
Antonym:
低い (low, short)
Compare:
激高 (extremely expensive)