美味しい／まずい — Tasting Good or Bad
美味しい (delicious) and まずい (bad-tasting) are い-adjectives used to evaluate food. They conjugate for tense like any い-adjective.
Structure
[Food] + は + 美味しい／まずい (です)
Examples
このラーメンはまずい！
Kono raamen wa mazui!
This ramen tastes terrible!
まずい = bad-tasting / unappetizing (い-adjective).
美味しかったです。
Oishikatta desu.
It was delicious.
Past tense of 美味しい: drop い → かった (美味しかった).
この店のパンはとても美味しいです。
Kono mise no pan wa totemo oishii desu.
The bread at this shop is very delicious.
美味しい (delicious, い-adjective) in plain present + です for politeness.
• Register: 美味しい is neutral/polite; うまい is the casual, masculine-leaning equivalent for 'tasty'. • Etiquette: It is normal to say 美味しい！ after the first bite of food someone made for you. Avoid saying まずい to a cook's face — it is blunt and rude.
Commonly confused with
The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones 美味しい／まずい is tested against.
vs うまい
うまい means the same 'tasty' but is casual/rough (and also means 'skillful'); 美味しい is the safe polite choice, especially for women and formal settings.
vs い-adjective past tense (かった) vs です
The い-adjective itself carries the past tense (美味しかった); です stays present and is only added for politeness — never say 美味しいでした.
More adjectives
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