の, Don't!

In this Topic, we're going to learn how to strongly forbid people from doing things using な, and we'll also learn how to shorten our sentences which use the possessive の.

Although these two grammar points seem unrelated, we will look at something they have in common. Both are easily confused with other grammar points that look almost identical.

このトピックに出てくる文法

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の
Possessive use (Noun omission)
A common pattern in Japanese is referring back to a noun that has already been mentioned, without actually repeating it. This is achieved through the use of the particle の, in a similar way to its standard possessive use. The noun that would usually follow の is dropped, as it has either been said earlier in the sentence, or is understood clearly from context.
In these examples, it would also be grammatically correct to use the same noun following の, but as can be seen in the English translation, it results in unnecessary repetition. This is called word stacking/redundant words (重(かさ)ね言葉(ことば)) in Japanese, and is considered a poor writing/speech habit. Despite this, it is important to know that this の is exactly the same as the possessive の (with the following word simply being left out).
In the following sentence, we can see another common use of の that translates similarly to 'one' in English, when referring to non-specific things.

From this, it is clear that the repeated noun is not needed. Japanese is a language that avoids repeating words in many situations. This example shows noun replacement, rather than noun omission, another common use of の which we will cover in another lesson.
N5 文法
な
Do not, Don't (Prohibitive)
な is classified as a sentence ending particle in Japanese. When attached to the base (dictionary) form of a verb, it has the nuance of strongly demanding that someone 'not' do something.
N5 文法

詳細

As we already know, の has a lot of different uses, so it could be easy to confuse what it is doing in a sentence. Similarly, な has two different uses when it comes at the end of a sentence, which can also be tricky without context.

No, No, No, No!

When a word has multiple meanings, normally we can tell from the context what is intended. But even without context, the grammar gives us a hint.

With の, the meanings will be clear from what comes before it. For example, let's look at how の can be used with nouns.

We can see clearly that the possessive meaning and the contextual/explanatory meaning are different due to な being added or not.

With verbs, it is even easier. The possessive の is a case-marking particle. As we've already learned, this means that it must follow a noun, so it will never come after a verb or い-Adjective. So all uses of の after verbs or い-Adjectives are the contextual/explanatory の, the nominalizing の, or the pronoun-like の.

Na, Na, Na, Na!

As we have learned, besides the meaning of strongly telling some to not do something, な can be used as a sentence-ending particle to show emotion, self-confirmation, or agreement. This can be a common point of confusion when there is little to no context.

One rule we can remember is that the strong prohibition meaning will always follow verbs in their dictionary form. If you see な following any other type of word at the end of a sentence, then it will be the emotion/agreement sentence-ending particle.

Even with verbs, context and common sense will make the meaning clear in almost all cases. Besides this, when spoken, the tone is different.