〜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.
Structure
[い-adj drop い / な-adj / Verb masu-stem] + すぎる
Examples
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
• 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.
More expressions
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