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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-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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1answer
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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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1answer
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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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1answer
76 views
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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1answer
128 views
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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1answer
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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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1answer
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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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2answers
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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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1answer
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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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1answer
483 views
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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694 views
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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1answer
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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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1answer
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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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1answer
278 views
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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2answers
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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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1answer
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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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1answer
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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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2answers
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Using い and な adjectives
According to the book I am reading, "Sakura is beautiful" is written as
さくらはきれいです
and "Sakura is a beautiful flower" is
さくらはきれいなはなです
,but when using たかい the na form isn't used. ...
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2answers
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na-adjectives in different tenses. これは真面目だった人です。
I need some help with basic grammar.
What is the difference between these sentences:
これは真面目だった人です。
これは真面目な人でした。
これは真面目だった人でした。
Thank you in advance!
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2answers
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past tense na adjective + noun
I have two sentences that im using to try to understand how na adjectives are conjugated in Japanese.
私の友達は綺麗な人 - My friend is a beautiful person
私の友達は綺麗だった人 - My friend was a beautiful person
In ...
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1answer
337 views
Why/when is である required for na-adjectives in grammar forms?
When shin kanzen master defines the connections for some grammar forms, it often notes that である must be used for na-adjectives.
For example, in the grammar point for ～にもかかわらず in shin kanzen master ...
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Can every noun be a na-adjective?
I know that na-adjectives are nouns which can also act like adjectives by affixing themselves to nouns, but can every noun do this simply by adding な or can only certain nouns have the property of ...
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Why is くなかった wrong and ではありません preferred in this sentence?
I was taking a n5 grammar test and I came across the question:
あの人{ひと} は有名{ゆうめい} ＿＿＿＿
The answer I chose was くなかった. However, the quiz said the correct answer was ではありません. Why is that?
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Can I use 素敵 to describe a wonderful person?
I want to say that a person is wonderful:
「素敵な人。」
Is there a more appropriate way to tell a person they are wonderful? This is my entire sentence:
「あなたは素敵な人です。」
I want to use the term to say ...
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1answer
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Do we really have to change particles (usually が into は) in negative and interrogative sentences?
Which alternatives sounds more natural?
1.1 - その本は読めない。
1.2 - その本が読めない。
2.1 - ゴルフは上手じゃない。
2.2 - ゴルフが上手じゃない
3.1 - この映画は見たくない。
3.2 - この映画が見たくない。
3.3 - この映画を見たくない。
4.1 - 日本語は分からない。
4.2 - 日本語が分からない。
...
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1answer
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How to say something is [a colour] AND [another adjective] using て form 'and'?
Do all colours work as な adjectives or い adjectives when using て form 'and'? In a sentence such as "my phone is white and small", would it be 私のけいたいは白いで小さいです。OR ～けいたいはしろくて～?
Also, if the colour were ...
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Can you omit the な between な-adjectives and nouns? [duplicate]
書く時には書くスタイルに合った書き言葉的表現、そして、話す時には話すスタイルに合った話し言葉的表現があることを覚えておいてください。
The above quote is from the second chapter of Tobira. My question concerns 書き言葉的表現 and 話し言葉的表現. The book states that (書き/話し)言葉的 is a ...
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Modifying fixed expressions such as 「駄々をこねる」 adjectivally and adverbially
I came across the following sentence:
子供みたいな駄々をこねる
It felt a bit weird (possibly because I'm not very familiar with either 「駄々」 or 「こねる」 and think of the expression as a big verb) and made me ...
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1answer
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What quality would 勝手 describe in these contexts?
I looked it up in online dictionaries and they didn't really prove useful. "Selfish" or "convenience" doesn't seem to fit.
So this is a quote from Niji-iro Tohgarashi
勝手な奴だ。
This is the sentence ...
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4answers
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Is there a difference between 最高の and 最高な?
A dictionary lists 最高 as being both a no-adjective and na-adjective. I've also seen other examples of this. However, is there a difference between using it either form since they're both attached to ...
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1answer
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Why does 嫌い looks so much like an i adjective, when it is a na adjective?
I tried to look for this answer but could not find it so...
Why is that 嫌い looks so much like an i-adjective? I might be wrong, but most i-adjectives seem follow this path:
Kanji + い or Kanji + ...
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1answer
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When should I use な in “na-adjectives”?
I'm trying to understand something here, I have the following question I need to answer:
あなたの部屋はきれいですか？
to which I should answer something like
ええ、きれいなです。
Why is the question does not contain ...
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3answers
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Difference between 必死で走る and 必死に走る
I understand that in these expressions the に isn't a particle (I think it indicates the adverbial form of a na-adjective) but I'm not sure what で is:
必死に走る
run like crazy
必死で走る
run like hell
...
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1answer
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かたくな etymology and relation to 固い
The words 頑な{かたくな} (na-adjective, "stubborn") and 固い{かたい} (i-adjective, "hard" or "stubborn") sound similar and have a similar meaning. I was thinking if these words are related to each other through ...
