Grammar › Adjectives
〜すぎる — “too much / excessively”
Beyond the right amount: 高すぎる too expensive, 食べすぎた ate too much
Attach すぎる to a verb stem or an adjective stem to say it's excessive: 高すぎる (too expensive), 食べすぎる (overeat). The result is a る-verb (すぎた, すぎない). It almost always carries a negative “that's a problem” nuance.
How to form it
| Pattern | Example |
|---|---|
| Verb stem + すぎる | 飲む → 飲みすぎる — drink too much |
| い-adj (drop い) + すぎる | 高い → 高すぎる — too expensive |
| な-adj + すぎる | 静か → 静かすぎる — too quiet |
Example sentences
| Japanese | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 昨日はお酒を飲みすぎた。 | きのうはおさけをのみすぎた。 kinouhaosakewonomisugita。 | I drank too much yesterday. |
| このかばんは高すぎます。 | このかばんはたかすぎます。 konokabanhatakasugimasu。 | This bag is too expensive. |
| 宿題が多すぎる。 | しゅくだいがおおすぎる。 shukudaigaoosugiru。 | There's too much homework. |
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Watch out
いい and ない become よすぎる and なさすぎる (irregular stems). And すぎる implies “too much for it to be good” — don't use it to simply mean “very”; that's とても.