Questions tagged [na-adjectives]
形容動詞. A specialized class of nouns of that can be attached to other nouns (using the special copula form な for present-positive), to describe their properties.
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Why is な being used between two nouns?
I was watching a dorama and there was an introduction sentence with な between two nouns, as if the first noun was actually a na-adjective.
「大学３年。彼氏なんてもちろんいない。思い切って私らしくない変身をしたハロウイン…。ハロウインの夜、残り物な私。」
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Why is 'ordinary book' translated as 普通の本 and not 普通な本
I have trouble understanding why "no" is used here instead of "na". For example, on Tofugu they translate きれいな人 as "beautiful person" and きれいのヒント as "beauty hints&...
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Rules for にもかかわらず with な-adjectives
Lately I've been looking up some entries in "A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar". Under the entry for にもかかわらず (p. 257), it describes the formation rules for な-adjectives as:
(iii)...
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Can a city or a place be described as 便利?
I know 便利 means something convenient or handy but can it also be used to describe a place?
Ex. 1 If City A is close to city B, can I say that city A is 便利 (because it is easy and fast to travel to ...
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Do 形容動詞 include な?
Consider the phrase:
好きな人
Here "好き" is a na-adjective, and this sentence could translate to:
Well-liked person
Question: Is the 形容動詞 in this phrase:
...just the word "好き"?
......
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How to convert negated na-adjectives to adverbs?
I know when I want to use a な-adjective as an adverb then we have to use に particle instead of な. For example:
簡単{かんたん}に説明{せつめい}しました。
But I'm curious how to use negated な-adjectives as adverbs. ...
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大きな深刻な問題 two na-connected attributives
The accepted answer under this question suggests 色々な便利な道具 is natural but it is most likely due to 色々 being an exception. I have just heard 大きな深刻な問題 on a Japanese TV program. And Google seems to show ...
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〜ような or 〜ように before V-stem + 方 [closed]
I encountered the following multiple-choice question in a JLPT N3 grammar practice test:
仕事と生活の（ ）働き方がしたい。
１ バランスをとるらしく ２ バランスをとるらしい
３ バランスがとれるような ４ バランスがとれるように
I chose 「３ バランスがとれるような」, but ...
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How do I combine 個人/個人的 and 未熟な?
あくまで私の意見です
あくまで私個人の見解です
あくまで私の個人的な意見ですが
All of these seem idiomatic. But when I want to add another word 未熟な into the mix, none of these seem right or widely accepted:
あくまで私個人の未熟な意見です
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に after 的-adjective
Is there a specific rule on how and when to use に after a 的 adjective to make it function adverbially?
For example, 具体的 seems to always be followed by に before verbs, i.e.
具体的に話してほしい "Please ...
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What's the difference between 正しく, 正に, 正確に, 丁度, きちんと and ぴたり?
Which ones are interchangeable?
Also, what's the difference between their adjective version: 正しい, 正確な, きちんとする, ぴたりする? I don't know if the last two are correct.
Please, add similar adverbs and ...
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What is the difference between 相応, 相当, 適当 and 適切
What is the difference between 相応, 相当, 適当 and 適切? All of them have the meaning suitable/appropriate but what is the difference and when do I use each of them?
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How to tell when a na adjective is being used as a noun (as opposed to an adjective)
It is common knowledge that na-adjectives are in truth nouns that can be used as adjectives (edit: I now see this was a false generalization I was led into believing by some grammar sources); and the ...
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What does this paragraph mean in Wasabi's "Japanese Adjectives with Particle が" article?
I'm trying to understand this post on using Japanese adjectives and am stumped by this paragraph under the I-adjectives section
When you use i-adjectives as a subject complement, you MUST NOT do the ...
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Meaning of ゲロシヴ?
So, I've looked high and low but simply cannot figure this one out.
In what I'm reading, a character says this to another who is wearing a suit:
今日もゲロシヴなスーツが決まってるねぇ
What does ゲロシヴ mean? I tried ...
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Use 連用形 as a 形容動詞 (na-adjective)
In the lyric of 余白 by 尾崎由香, there is the line
言わば引きこもりなくせに
In this line, the 連用形 of the verb 引きこもる seems to be used as a 形容動詞. While it is quite common to use the 連用形 of a verb as a noun, this is ...
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I'm confused by all the different ways to modify a noun. How do I know when to use what?
意味不明,学校全体,現実可能
安定した収入
もやもやとした記憶、もやもやしていた気持ち
(1) I keep coming across examples like this where a na-adjective is placed after the noun and with the な omitted.
Why is the order reversed in these ...
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-く form for な-adjectives [duplicate]
My textbook (A course in modern Japanese, volume two) states the following (Lesson 11 p.26):
In spoken language, sentences are connected with the て-form. And in written language, they are connected ...
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な adjectives with い always end with -ei?
According to the "Oxford Japanese Grammar & Verbs" book, "There are some words which end in い even though they are な adjectives, not い adjectives. Such words all end in -ei.".
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Meaning of オトナー as a な-adjective
I first came across it in a manga, in which office ladies discuss what their boss' girlfriend would be like, and one of the guesses is:
きっとすごい派手な女性とか？
オトナーな感じの？
My dictionaries turned up nothing, ...
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What do you say when you feel bad for someone? Like "Poor Alice."
When you feel bad for someone or feel sympathy for them? For example, if you want to say, "Poor Alice," would it be, 可哀想アリス？or do I have to add the な after 可哀想 since it's a na-adjective?
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Parsing a sentence with two な-adjectives in quick succession
I'm reading a manga called Buchou wa Onee, and in the first pages, we are introduced to the main character and a few peculiar things about him as told by workmates.
https://ssl.standardbook.net/wp-...
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What does “stem” mean in “Adj (na) stem”
In A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar, I have (at least tried to) read the grammatical terms and list of abbreviations very carefully, but maybe something is missing. Or maybe I missed something.
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na-adjective + noun: can I negate na-adjective in this case?
I read articles and watch videos but no one mention it is possible to negate na-adjective if it before the noun.
Everywhere just mention that case when no noun after the na-adjective:
これ は かんたん です。 --&...
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What is the difference between 人気のある, 人気がある, 人気の, and 人気な? [duplicate]
As 人気 is a noun and な-adjective, it can be used in these phrases:
人気のある映画
人気がある映画
人気の映画
人気な映画
人気映画
To me, they all mean ‘popular movie’, but the first 2 literally mean ‘movie that has popularity’ ...
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Role of で in 勢いがさかんで、かがやかしいようす。
I stumbled on NHK Easy Japanese upon an explanation of 華{はな}やかな ~ splendid, gorgeous, glorious in Japanese, which is:
勢{いきお}いがさかんで、かがやかしいようす。
Is the で in this case the copula or the particle?
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What is the proper form of a short question with an i-adjective vs. a na-adjective?
I have read that great answer about i-adjectives being predicates. How does it reflect in questions?
Say, I have a dialogue:
— Is your city a beautiful one?
— Yes, it is.
— Is it big?
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な adjectives vs い adjectives when it comes to conjugation
When conjugating い adjectives it is all fine and dandy, you get rid of the い and replace depending on past, present, affirmative and negative (unless present and affirmative).
*1 But then I am ...
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What does 真っ赤な in the example sentence referring to?
I was playing some video game & I came across this sentence:
スプラッタで真っ赤な、すりおろしリンゴが出てきそうで恐い
I want to ask what is 真っ赤な's role in this sentence, what does it describe?
I have an idea that it ...
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Other types of adjectives (besides い and な)
I recently started learning Japanese in my home country.
Last lesson we learned about the 2 types of adjectives, い and な.
Are there other types , like rare ones ?
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Can な Adjectives be also used for combination with verbs
I am new to Japanese and found out that Adjectives can also be used along with verbs in て forms. I came to know that there are two adjectives い-adj and な-adj. い is an adjectival verb. Whereas, な is an ...
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Interpreting the past tense of 形容動詞 / 形容詞 / adjectives
In Japanese 形容動詞 can be used as part of a noun phrase in the past tense (contrary to adjectives in English), e.g:
「綺麗だった花」 → "the beautifulpast flower" → "the flower that was beautiful"
We can ...
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How do I use the Japanese word 素直(Sunao) for upfront?
I've been trying to find the Japanese word for upfront for a while now. And about two to three days ago, I got my answer. However, every time I try to translate it in a sentence, it says "docile" or "...
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珍 vs 珍しい (na-adjective and i-adjective)
珍 is a noun but also a na-adjective while 珍しい is an i-adjective. In terms of usage, is there some rule of when we should use one and not the other? For words that have a i-adjective and a na-adjective ...
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Do all な-adjectives come from Chinese?
In this video it is said that "な-adjectives come from Chinese and tend to be written in all kanji or sometimes in hiragana because the original kanji is too complicated." But い-adjectives are written ...
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Is 〜であるものか construction allowable?
In 新完全{しんかんぜん}マスター文法{ぶんぽう}N2 page xi the formation rules for 〜ものか are
普通形{ふつうけい}（ナ形｛けい｝だ-な・名｛めい｝だ-な）＋ものか
These rules seem to preclude the form 〜であるものか.
There is also this note at the bottom of ...
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Do na-adjectives have an attributive negative form?
Assuming present tense, we can use i-adjectives in an attributive context both in the affirmative form:
高い 椅子 が あります - there's an expensive chair
And in the negative form:
高くない 椅子 が あります - ...
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な vs の classes of nouns
Based on my understanding, it seems that "な-adjectives" and "nouns" both function as nouns in the grammatical sense with the exception that "な-adjectives" are linked to other nouns with な and "nouns" ...
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Can「病気【びょうき】」be used as a 形容動詞【けいようどうし】 (na-adjective)?
I came across this multiple choice question as part of my homework. There is only one correct choice.
Question
心配【しんぱい】しないで。悪【わる】い病気【びょうき】 { ______ } と思【おも】います
Don't worry. I think { ______ } a bad ...
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What is the difference between 「いろいろ」and 「さまざま」?
According to the dictionary, they both mean "various". What is the difference between both words?
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What's the difference between [noun] + の and [noun]+ な?
For example, suppose I want to say "It's a weird thing". Can I say "hen na koto desu.", and "hen no koto desu"? What is the difference?
｢変なことです｣ vs. ｢変のことです｣
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Origin of こんな, そんな, あんな and どんな
I wondered why こんな, そんな, あんな and どんな can be used prenominally without any particles. Due to the lack of a proper etymology dictionary in my possession (a recommendation would be appreciated), I came ...
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好きだ or 好きな: which one to be used in the below mentioned sentence
Which one is correct?
私が好きだ日本の食べ物はてんぷらです。
Or
私が好きな日本の食べ物はてんぷらです。
I am not sure whether to use sukina or sukida
Please post your answer with explaination.
Thank you.
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こんな、そんな、あんな、どんな + na-adjectives
How do they interact with each other? I know that depending on the part of speech these words may have/have no particle after them, but what about na-adjectives? Do these pronouns have any particle in ...
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How to translate nominalised adjectives from Japanese to English (e.g. スイスがきれいなこと)
I am currently struggling with wrapping my head around こと and how it nominalises adjectives/sentences with adjectives to turn them into noun phrases.
With verbs, it's easy:
べんとうを食べる (I eat bento/...
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What is the difference between 適切、適当 and 適宜?
As the title says, I've been having some trouble with recognizing the difference between 適切、適当 and 適宜 as in dictionaries they are all translated to "appropriate, suitable".
According to this site
適当{...
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な Adjectives - Only in present tense? [duplicate]
I've doubt about な.
I've to use it only when I'm talking in present tense?
Example:
１）きれいな人だ
２）きれいな人だった
The second one is valid?
Thanks in advance!
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Verb after な-adjective, is it necessary to complete the sentence?
I read somewhere that 形容動詞 are a special subclass of nouns. Contrarily 形容詞, the い adjectives, are actually a lot more similar to verbs. During the time that I have been learning Japanese language (...
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