How to say “Delicious” in Japanese
How to say delicious in Japanese: おいしいです (polite) vs おいしい (casual), the i-adjective register switch, うまい, native audio, and an AI grader that scores your sentence.
このりんごはおいしいです。
This apple is delicious.
このりんごはおいしい。
This apple is delicious.
When to use which
The sentence to practice is このりんごはおいしいです ("this apple is delicious"), with the casual form このりんごはおいしい. That final です is the entire register system for adjectives like おいしい: i-adjectives are grammatically complete on their own, so casual speech simply ends on the adjective, and polite speech appends です. Nothing else changes — no conjugation, no honorific prefix. Learn the switch here and it transfers to every i-adjective you'll ever meet: 高い/高いです, 寒い/寒いです.
The trap runs in the other direction: you can add です to おいしい, but never だ. おいしいだ is flatly ungrammatical — だ attaches to nouns and na-adjectives, not i-adjectives. If a beginner sentence ever sounded subtly wrong to a native listener, this is a frequent culprit.
You'll also constantly hear うまい — a casual, historically masculine-leaning "delicious" that's everywhere in everyday speech and food shows, but too rough for polite company. And a cultural note that matters more than the vocabulary: in Japan, saying おいしい out loud during the meal is expected, not optional flattery. The meal is framed by いただきます before and ごちそうさまでした after, with おいしい as the running commentary in between. Eating in silence reads as indifference — which makes this one of the few phrases where producing it audibly is the whole point.
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The step from おいしい to おいしいです is the entire register system for Japanese i-adjectives, compressed into one word about an apple.
Frequently asked
What's the difference between おいしい and うまい?
Both mean delicious. おいしい is neutral and safe everywhere; うまい is casual, blunter, and historically masculine-leaning — natural with friends over ramen, out of place in polite conversation. When in doubt, おいしい.
Do I need です after おいしい?
In polite speech, yes — おいしいです. Casually, drop it and end on the adjective. But never substitute だ: おいしいだ is ungrammatical, because だ can't attach to i-adjectives. The choice is です or nothing.
How do you compliment food in Japanese?
Say おいしい during the meal — audibly, more than once is fine — and ごちそうさまでした when you finish, which thanks whoever prepared it. The full frame starts with いただきます before the first bite.
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