少ない

すくない

a little; a few

i-adjective

Conjugation Table

Present

少ない

Negative

少なくない

Past

少なかった

Past Negative

少なくなかった

Te Form

少なくて

Adverbial

少なく

Conditional

少なければ

Presumptive

少ないでしょう

Example Sentences

このクラスには学生が少ないです。

There are few students in this class.

Kono kurasu ni wa gakusei ga sukunai desu.

昨日、お店に人が少なかったです。

There were few people at the shop yesterday.

Kinou, omise ni hito ga sukunakatta desu.

今日は少なくて、楽でした。

It was a little today, so it was easy.

Kyou wa sukunakute, raku deshita.

Grammar Notes & Usage Tips

•Use with Nouns**: When using 少ない (すくない) to describe a noun, place it directly before the noun, just like in English: 例: "少ない時間" (すくないじかん) means "a little time."

•Particle Pairing**: 少ない often pairs with the particle が when indicating that something is scarce or few in number, as in "お金が少ない" (おかねがすくない), meaning "There is little money."

•Negative Connotation**: While 少ない means "a few" or "a little," it often carries a negative nuance, implying insufficiency; be mindful of context to convey the right sentiment.

•Conjugation Reminder**: As an i-adjective, 少ない follows regular i-adjective conjugation rules, so in the past tense, it becomes 少なかった (すくなかった), meaning "was few/little."

•い-adjective: Conjugates by changing the い ending