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JLPT N4Expressions

〜すぎる— Too much / To excess

Attached to adjective stems or verb masu-stems to express excess ('too / too much'). It usually carries a negative connotation — the quality or action has gone beyond the acceptable point and become a problem.

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Pro lessonUNIT 59 · EXPRESSIONS

Structure · 形

[い-adj drop い / な-adj / Verb masu-stem] + すぎる

Examples · 例文

  • この料理は辛すぎて食べられない。

    Kono ryouri wa karasugite taberarenai.

    This dish is too spicy, so I can't eat it.

    辛い → 辛すぎる (excessively spicy)

  • 昨日飲み過ぎてしまった。

    Kinou nomisugite shimatta.

    I drank way too much yesterday.

    飲む → 飲み過ぎる (drink to excess)

  • その考えは単純すぎる。

    Sono kangae wa tanjun sugiru.

    That idea is overly simplistic.

    単純 (な-adj) + すぎる

Usage notes · 注意

  • Usually negative: 綺麗すぎる literally implies the beauty is somehow excessive/problematic, so it's not a plain compliment (casual slang bends this).
  • Conjugation: adding すぎる turns the phrase into a regular ru-verb: 飲みすぎる → 飲みすぎます, 飲みすぎた.
  • Exceptions: いい → よすぎる; ない → なさすぎる.

Commonly confused with

The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones 〜すぎる is tested against.

vsとても / すごく

とても・すごく are neutral intensifiers ('very'). すぎる means 'too much' — beyond the acceptable degree, typically a problem.

vsあまりに(も)

あまりに(も) is an adverb modifying an adjective ('excessively X'). すぎる is a verb suffix that turns the word itself into a 'do/be too much' predicate.

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