文法の説明

N5 レッスン 1: 11/12

な-AdjectiveAdjectives that are also nouns

Some な-Adjectives can end in い

使い方・接続

［な］Adjective + だ
［な］Adjective + な + Noun

詳細

  • 品詞

    名詞

  • 単語の種類

    形容動詞

  • 使用域

    一般

「な-Adjectives」の情報

In Japanese, the vast majority of な-Adjectives are originally nouns, and differ from nouns only in that they have their own set of conjugation rules. The dictionary form of a な-Adjective will always be followed by だ. な is only attached when describing another noun.

As we can see from these examples, だ or です is required at the end of a sentence, but な will be required when using a な-Adjective to describe a noun.

な-Adjectives are mostly words of foreign (Chinese/English) origin. This is why they have evolved to require unique conjugation rules.

Fun Fact

As a learner, it can be very difficult to identify what a な-Adjective is, compared to a regular noun. Nouns conjugate with の, while な-Adjectives conjugate with な. A very simple trick that Japanese children learn is using the adverb とても 'very'. If とても sounds natural with a word, then it is probably a な-Adjective, if it sounds unnatural, then the word is likely to be a regular noun.

From this example, we can see that とても can be used to help identify な-Adjectives. Basically, this is due to adjectives being measurable 'very big', 'very small', while nouns are not measurable 'very dog', 'very boat'.

関連

例文

--:--

    綺麗(きれい)な絵(え)。

    A pretty painting.

    綺麗(きれい)な女(おんな)の人(ひと)。

    A pretty woman.

    暇(ひま)な一日(いちにち)。

    A free day.

    静(しず)かな部屋(へや)。

    A quiet room.

    あれは綺麗(きれい)です。

    That over there is beautiful.

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「な-Adjectives」に関する文法ディスカッション

最近の返信 (合計11件)

  • Jake

    Jake

    adjectives

    Structure

    • なAdjective + だ
    • なAdjective + な + Noun

    Some な-Adjectives can end in い
    (きれい)

    View on Bunpro

  • Andulien

    Andulien

    I think for easier understanding you should note here that な is left off when next to a Verb. Right now this can be easily missed. Especially since this is a big difference in usage compared to い-Adjectives.

    な-Adjective + [な] + だ / です

    な-Adjective + な + Noun

  • seanblue

    seanblue

    Next to a verb? In those cases shouldn’t you use に to make it an adverb?

    By the way, @mrnoone, is there even a grammar point for changing な-adjectives into adverbs? Or for い-adjectives for that matter?

  • mrnoone

    mrnoone

    It is on the to-do list, we haven’t decided on level yet.

  • Andulien

    Andulien

    No I meant more like point out more clearly the difference between:
    綺麗 な 絵え。
    あれは綺麗 です。

    Omitting the な in the second example, whereas in the first it needs to stay.

    With い adjectives the い stays in both examples.
    新しい 絵え。
    あれは新しい です。

  • seanblue

    seanblue

    So nothing to do with verbs, but I get what you mean now.

  • Superpnut

    Superpnut

    It’s been a while since you posted it but your comment answered my question. The site isn’t very clear about when na is omitted and you said it in plain english. Ty

  • gyroninja

    gyroninja

    Unlike with い adjectives which all end with い. な adjectives do NOT all end with な (almost all of them don’t). For example, if you look in the dictionary there will be 綺麗 but not 綺麗な.

    な adjectives get their name from how you add な when you want to use a な adjective to describe a noun (when you want to put the な adjective in attributive form).

    This structure is shown on this site’s page for the grammar point as " な-Adjective + な + Noun"

  • Superpnut

    Superpnut

    Thanks…but the homie Andulien already said that three years ago. That’s why I told him thanks even though it had been a long time. Thank you for being helpful and I appreciate you helping me. How long have you been learning japan because you know so much. Kind of jealous because I’ve been really struggling but that is mostly because I am what is commonly referred to as “dumb as hell”.

  • gyroninja

    gyroninja

    Andulien’s perspective of there always being a な is a nonstandard way of analyzing things. You could similarly say there is always a だ after な adjectives except in cases where there isn’t and that would be just as valid as his view.

    The standard way to look at it is that you just have the な adjective and then you add stuff based off how you use it.

  • Superpnut

    Superpnut

    But he didn’t say there is always a な except when there isn’t…
    All he said is that there isn’t a な when the adjective is next to a verb.
    And I was showing appreciation because I was trying to figure out why there wasn’t a な
    Anyways it doesn’t matter I have some more basic grammar points to struggle to understand

  • gyroninja

    gyroninja

    If you read his posts you can see he used words like “left off” and “omit.” And in the way he compares な adjectives to い adjectives, he makes me think that he believed that な adjectives have a な at the end of them.

    As mentioned earlier in the thread if you want to use a な adjective on a verb you need to use に after the な adjective instead of な.

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