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Minnasan Konnichiwa!! みなさん、こんにちは！

Several Rocket Japanese learners have asked me concerning the difference between an I-adjective that ends in i, like
akai, shiroi, atatakai, samui

AND...I-adjective that ends in kute, like
akakute, shirokute, atatakakute, samukute

Let's look at the function of kute when added to i-adjectives. What does it do? Is there are similar expression in English? - Yes there is!

I'm sure you are already familiar that the mini-particle to in Japanese means "and" when it comes between two nouns. Such as Ringo TO Meron "Apple AND Melon". What if we want to connect two or more Adjectives together?

This is where the ending kute comes to use. By dropping the last i from an i-adjective and replacing it with kute, we can say something is big AND tall, or small AND short. That's right, kute is simply the "and" of Adjectives, just like to is the "and" for nouns.

Take a look at the chart below:

I-Adjective-----------------Kute-form of Adjective
Ōkii (Big)---------------------Ōkikute (Big and…)
Chīsai (Small)----------------Chīsakute (Small and…)
Akai (Red)--------------------Akakute (Red and…)
Oishii (Delicious)------------Oishikute (Delicious and…)

When two I-adjectives are used to describe a particular item, the first one is changed to the Kute-form, while the second one remains in its original i-adjective form.

The suitcase is big. It is also red.
Ōkiisūtukēsu desu. Akai sūtsukēsu desu.
Now, with KUTE, we can add both descriptions into one phrase.
The suitcase is big AND red.
ŌkiKUTE akai suutsukeesu desu.

The restaurant is cheap. It also has delicious meals.
Yasui resutoran desu. Oishii resutoran desu.
Putting both "cheap" and "delicious" into one sentence...
The restaurant is cheap AND delicious.
YasuKUTE oishii resutoran desu.

That's it for today's brief lesson on the important function of KUTE.

See you again! Mata oaishimashou!