What's the difference between 早い and 早め?


On Lang-8, for 'early birthday present' I used

> 早い誕生日プレゼント

but this was corrected to

> 早めの誕生日プレゼント

What's the difference between 早い and 早め?




早い is "early" in a time sense, and as an adjective. That is to say:

> 早く起きる Wake up early
>
> 早い時間 Early hours (there's probably a better translation than this somewhere)

早め is "earlier" in the sense of an adverb to describe something else
(technically 早く is an adverb, but it's not used the same way). Compare it to
the verb 早める, meaning "to advance" (in time), or make earlier.

> 早めに支払いをする Pay off early
>
> 早めの昼ごはん Early lunch
>
> 早めにプレゼントをあげる Give a present early

This last one changed to 早めのプレゼント, which gives us the sentence you gave at the
start.




早い is "early" in a time sense, and as an adjective. That is to say:

> 早く起きる Wake up early
>
> 早い時間 Early hours (there's probably a better translation than this somewhere)

早め is "earlier" in the sense of an adverb to describe something else
(technically 早く is an adverb, but it's not used the same way). Compare it to
the verb 早める, meaning "to advance" (in time), or make earlier.

> 早めに支払いをする Pay off early
>
> 早めの昼ごはん Early lunch
>
> 早めにプレゼントをあげる Give a present early

This last one changed to 早めのプレゼント, which gives us the sentence you gave at the
start.

