怖い
こわい
hepburn kowai
scary, frightening
Part of speech · i-adjective
Pattern visualization
Examples
- お化けが怖いです。I'm scared of ghosts.
- あの先生は怖いです。That teacher is scary.
Collocations
怖い (kowai, scary / scared)怖がる (kowagaru, to feel scared — verb)お化け (obake, ghost)怖い話 (kowai hanashi, scary story)心配 (shinpai, worry — na-adj)
Mnemonic
怖い kowai — i-adjective covering both "I'm scared" and "it's scary" — speaker emotion and object property collapse in one form. Verbal extension 怖がる (kowagaru) marks third-person observation: "they look scared". Pattern: 寒い → 寒がる (acts cold), 痛い → 痛がる (acts in pain). The grammar splits self-felt sensation from observing others. Vocabulary cluster taps Japanese summer-fright culture (お化け ghosts, 怖い話 scary stories — a 納涼 / cooling-off tradition).
Quick check
Grammar role of i-adjective + がる?