The Kanji for “small” is almost as easy to visualize as its opposite （大）, if you think of the strokes as representing three tiny things.
Similar to 「大きな」, 「小さな」 is another one of those funny adjectives that you can’t conjugate and only use as is. Stick with the i-adjective 「小さい」 for conjugations eg 「小さくない」 NOT 「小さじゃない」.
As you can see by this image of the Pope, 「大」 is yet another one of those simple Kanji that is easy to memorize AND visualize.
The only tricky part is figuring out which reading to use in Kanji compounds. There is no rhythm nor reason for why 「大学」 is read as 「だい」 vs 「大使館」 as 「たい」 except perhaps those readings roll easier on the tongue. If you’re new to Kanji, you’ll see this is often the case for common characters with multiple readings.
As for 「大きな」, this is one of those funny adjectives that you can’t conjugate and only use as is. Stick with the i-adjective 「大きい」 for conjugations eg 「大きくない」 NOT 「大きじゃない」.
A: What are (you) saying? There’s no way I can say a Kanji in conversation, right? Or what? Are you concluding that what I’m saying materializes and is visible to the eye? It’s not like this is a Manga.
B: So why are you using such confusing Kanji and difficult words and grammar? People that just started studying Kanji will fall into a panic and run away!
You might be asking why is mouth a square, not a circle? Honestly, I have no frickin’ clue. Oddly enough, circle is a shape that is not used in Kanji （○ is a symbol, not Kanji）. Even the Kanji for “circle” （丸） is not round in the slightest! Maybe something to do with how brush strokes work, I dunno.
Anyway, it is what it is, a square to symbolize a big, open mouth. Take EXTRA care to learn the stroke order because this is also a very important radical that will be used in quite a few other characters.
Also, this is visually identical to the Katakana: ロ but totally different OBVIOUSLY. (Rolls eyes)
Well, the easy ride is over but it was great while it lasted, wasn’t it? 「一二三」, let’s see, that’s 3 out of about 2,000+ characters so… progress?
漢字いけるかもしれない？
There’s several explanations on how 「四」 came to be and most of them involve the fact that it comes from a combination of: 口＋八. However, the inside part more clearly resembles the 「儿」 leg radical (note: this radical is not a kanji by itself). If these Kanji are new to you and you prefer to learn in radical order, you may want to skip to the next suggestions.
One suggested memonic was an image of an open mouth to signify that your breath is impossible to count (one, two, three, many). This one must go back to the caveman days where four was considered a bigly number? In any case, this Kanji is still common and simple enough you could probably memorize it by brute repetition anyway. Hmph!
This one is pretty easy and given my (lack) of drawing ability, this is what my pathetic attempts to draw a person typically look like. My drawing ability is so bad, xkcd practically looks like Monet in comparison.
However, don’t be lulled into a false sense of security as the tricky part is remembering whether to read it as 「じん」 eg 「日本人、未亡人」 or 「にん」 eg 「職人」. Not to mention some of those tricky words with readings completely divorced from the actual characters: 「大人、一人、二人、仲人、若人、玄人」 etc. Don’t worry about them if you’re still relatively new to Kanji for now.
全然 【ぜん・ぜん】 (adv) – not at all (when used with negative)
難しい 【むずか・しい】 (i-adj) – difficult
三の漢字も全然難しくない！
さんのかんじもぜんぜんむずかしくない！
(The) Kanji for “three” is also not hard at all!
Example 2
In this next example, 「姦しい」 is not very commonly used (better to memorize 「やかましい」 or 「騒がしい」). However, the proverb is interesting in terms of the actual Kanji, I just had to include it here.
女 【おんな】(n) – woman
三人 【さん・にん】(counter) – 3 people
寄る 【よ・る】(u-verb) – to approach; to gather
姦しい 【かしま・しい】(i-adj) – noisy
死ぬ 【し・ぬ】(u-verb) – to die
ことわざ – proverb
勉強 【べん・きょう】(n) – study
する (exception) – to do
A: 女三人寄れば姦しい。
A: おんなさんにんよればかしましい。
A: If 3 women gather, (it) gets noisy.
B: 死にたいのかしら？
B: しにたいのかしら？
B: Do (you) want to die?
A: ことわざを勉強してるだけだよ！
A: ことわざをべんきょうしてるだけだよ！
A: (I’m) just studying proverbs!
Example 3
三角 【さん・かく】(n) – triangle
関係 【かん・けい】(n) – relationship
いい (i-adj) – good
うん – yes (casual)
多分 【た・ぶん】 – probably; maybe
今 【いま】 – now
想像 【そう・ぞう】(n) – imagination
する (exception) – to do
全然 【ぜん・ぜん】(adv) – not at all (when used with negative)
違う 【ちが・う】(u-verb) – to be different
かわいい (i-adj) – cute
女の子 【おんな・の・こ】 – girl
囲む 【かこ・む】(u-verb) – to surround, to enclose
やっぱり – as expected (casual)
夢 【ゆめ】(n) – dream
ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
A: 三角関係って、なんかいいですよね。
A: さんかくかんけいって、なんかいいですよね。
A: Something about love-triangle, isn’t (it) nice?
B: うん、多分、今想像してるのは、全然違うから。
B: うん、たぶん、いまそうぞうしてるのは、ぜんぜんちがうから。
B: Yeah, (what you’re) probably imagining right now is totally wrong so…
A: かわいい女の子二人に囲まれてですね。
A: かわいいおんなのこふたりにかこまれてですね。
A: (You’re) surrounded by two cute girls and then, right?
A: やっぱり。まっ、夢があっていいんじゃない？
A: やっぱり。まっ、ゆめがあっていいんじゃない？
B: I knew it. Well, (I guess it’s) good to have dreams.
