Structure
［な］Adjective + な + Noun
Examples:
静か + な + 夜
元気 + な + 子供
Details
Part of Speech
Expression
Word Type
Noun
Register
Standard
About な-Adjective + Noun
In Japanese, almost any type of word can be attached to the beginning of a noun to modify the meaning, or describe the qualities of that noun. However, depending on the type of word used, conjugation rules will differ slightly.
For な-Adjectives, they will always need to be followed by な, when used before a noun. This means that adjective (A) is describing qualities/features of noun (B).
Caution
Many words can take either な or の when describing a noun. The difference in meaning is usually clear. Let's take a look at both nuances.
(A) な (B) means that - (A) is a quality/feature of (B)
(A) の (B) means that - (A) is the type/purpose of (B)
To avoid making this mistake when using な-Adjectives to describe a noun, it can be helpful to think about whether you are describing a 'quality', or the 'purpose' of something.
Related
Misc.
Examples
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暇な一日。
A free day.
旭が丘は静かな街です。
Asahigaoka is a quiet town.
たなかさんは親切な人だ。
Tanaka-san is a kind person.
これは便利なツールです。
This is a convenient tool.
綺麗なタオルはトイレにある。
There are clean towels in the bathroom.
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な-Adjective + Noun – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (3 in total)
SpectralVulpine
For this example sentence:
それは大切なベンおじさんの言葉です。
I thought because 大切 comes immediately before the noun ベンおじさん , that was the noun it would modify; i.e. “the words of dear uncle Ben”.
But the translation suggests 大切 is actually modifying 言葉 here?Those are the important words of uncle Ben.
Does that mean a な adjective can modify a noun without being directly attached to the beginning of that noun? I thought to get “important words” you’d need to write the above sentence more like this to get that translation:
それはベンおじさんの大切な言葉です。
Am I missing something?
diegom89
Hi!
The way I interpret the sentence is that の is acting as a nominalizer, the whole thing ベンおじさんの言葉 behaves like a noun, in other words, the noun in this sentence is “the words of uncle Ben” and that is what is being modified.
SpectralVulpine
Ahh, ok. I didn’t realize の worked that way. So instead of this…
(大切なベンおじさん)の言葉
It’s closer to this?
大切な(ベンおじさんの言葉)
I’ll have to keep an eye out for that kind of pattern in the future
Thank you for the reply!
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