甘(あま)い

あまい

i-adjective

sweet

Conjugation

	Affirmative	Negative
Present	甘(あま)い	甘(あま)くない
Past	甘(あま)かった	甘(あま)くなかった
て form	甘(あま)くて	甘(あま)くなくて
Adverbial	甘(あま)く	—
Conditional ば	甘(あま)ければ	甘(あま)くなければ
Conditional たら	甘(あま)かったら	甘(あま)くなかったら

1. sweet (taste)

Describes a sweet taste in food or drinks.

このケーキは甘(あま)いです。

This cake is sweet.

甘(あま)いものが好(す)きです。

I like sweet things.

甘(あま)い飲(の)み物(もの)はいかがですか？

Would you like a sweet drink?

このりんごはとても甘(あま)くておいしいですね。

This apple is very sweet and delicious.

日本(にほん)の果物(くだもの)は甘(あま)くて高(たか)いですが、外国(がいこく)の友達(ともだち)にあげるととても喜(よろこ)ばれます。

Japanese fruit is sweet and expensive, but my foreign friends are very happy when I give it to them.

2. lenient, naive, optimistic

Figuratively means being too easy on someone, having naive expectations, or being overly optimistic.

考(かんが)えが甘(あま)い。

Your thinking is naive.

親(おや)が子供(こども)に甘(あま)いです。

The parents are lenient with their children.

自分(じぶん)に甘(あま)いのはよくないです。

It's not good to be easy on yourself.

そんな甘(あま)い話(はなし)はありません。

There's no such easy deal.

彼(かれ)の計画(けいかく)は甘(あま)すぎて、うまくいくとは思(おも)えないので、もっと考(かんが)え直(なお)した方(ほう)がいいです。

His plan is too naive and I don't think it will work, so he should reconsider it.

甘(あま)い covers a sweet taste and, figuratively, a lack of strictness or hard-headedness.

Usage

Works equally as a predicate (ケーキが甘(あま)い) and as a modifier (甘(あま)いケーキ)
In the figurative sense, the person given the easy treatment is marked with に: 子供(こども)に甘(あま)い (soft on the children), 自分(じぶん)に甘(あま)い (easy on oneself)
When the subject is a plan, a forecast, or a way of thinking, 甘(あま)い says it underestimates the difficulty — nobody is being kind to anyone
The noun form 甘(あま)さ carries both senses, sweetness and leniency

Common collocations

甘(あま)いもの: sweets, desserts
甘口(あまくち): the sweet grade of sake, curry, or wine, as against 辛口(からくち)
考(かんが)えが甘(あま)い, 見通(みとお)しが甘(あま)い: naive thinking; an over-optimistic outlook
甘(あま)い話(はなし): an offer too good to be true

A third, everyday physical use describes something that should be tight or sharp but is not: ねじが甘(あま)い (the screw is loose), ピントが甘(あま)い (the focus is soft).

Similar words

厳(きび)しい: the opposite of the lenient sense
辛(から)い: the opposite for taste, and also for grading or judging harshly
甘(あま)やかす: the verb for treating someone this way

Related Words

Antonym: 辛(から)い (spicy, salty)

Antonym: 厳(きび)しい (strict (opposite of lenient sense))

Related: 甘(あま)やかす (to treat indulgently (verb))

Compare: 加糖(かとう) (sweetened)

Compare: 手(て)ぬるい (too lenient)

Compare: ロマンチック (romantic)

Compare: お人好(ひとよ)し (good-natured person)

Compare: 甘(あま)ったるい (cloyingly sweet)

basic

Added 2026.1.7 21:29 · Revised 2026.9.4 21:29

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