For よう, why do we prepend な for Na-adjectives, and の for regular nouns? Is there a logical understanding behind this from like a Japanese perspective? I feel as though since they're both technically nouns, then we should treat them the same.
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1Your question is unclear -- when you say, "they're both technically nouns", what does "both" refer to here?– Eiríkr ÚtlendiDec 3, 2021 at 19:52
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Separately, please understand that particles in Japanese do not prepend anything -- particles are added after the word or phrase that they mark.– Eiríkr ÚtlendiDec 3, 2021 at 19:53
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By both, I mean Na-adjectives and Nouns are both technically nouns. So why do we use a na for one and no for the rest?– CatdogDec 3, 2021 at 20:16
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Ah, no, -na adjectives are not technically nouns. Some of the -na adjectives are also nouns, but as a general class of words, -na adjectives are not nouns. This question and answer discusses this a bit, with examples of two -na adjectives that cannot be used as nouns, and one -na adjective that can also be used as a noun.– Eiríkr ÚtlendiDec 3, 2021 at 20:17
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2It seems like the question reduces to why are some words na adjectives and others nouns.– CaseyDec 3, 2021 at 20:55
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1 Answer
よう is basically a na-adjective which can also behave as a noun.
Note that not all na-adjectives can be used as nouns, but some can. That's why they fall under the category of adjectival nouns: no-adjectives and na-adjectives, using の and な respectively.
よう as a noun
After nouns + no:
- 彼は留守のようでした。
After adjectival nouns + na/no in the non-past affirmative context:
- 彼は大丈夫なようです。 大丈夫 is a na-adjective, which is modifying よう, a noun.
- 彼は病気のようだ。病気 is a no-adjective, which is modifying よう, a noun.
After adjectival nouns or nouns + じゃない, だった or じゃなかった in the past context:
- 彼は練習が嫌だったようです。The clause 彼は練習が嫌だった modifies よう, a noun.
よう as a na-adjective
Once よう has been modified, this noun can also modify another noun. To do this, な is used.
- この間食べたようなケーキだよ。この間食べた modifies よう, and よう modifies ケーキ by using な.
Just like a na-adjective, it can be followed by に to form an adverb.
- 彼女はまるで魚のように速く泳げます。魚 modifies よう, and ように creates an adverb to modify 速く泳げます.
