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いadjectives and なadjectives

いadjectives and なadjectives

Today’s Question

このほんはゆうめいです。
=これはゆうめい( )ほんです。
a. で b. な c. の d. leave it blank

Today, I’m going to talk about 2 things. One is about ゆうめい and the other about この/これ.

いadjectives and なadjectives

Adjectives are describing words. They are used to describe a noun. In the following pair, the bold word つめたいtsumetai/cold is the adjective and the underlined word みずmizu/water is the noun that つめたいtsumetai/cold is describing.

このkono みずmizu wa つめたいtsumetai ですdesu。 This water is cold.
これkore wa つめたいtsumetai みずmizu ですdesu。This is cold water.

In the above pair, the top sentence has the adjective between wa and ですdesu (“predicative use”) and the second sentence has the adjective immediately before the noun (“attributive use”).

In Japanese, there are 2 different types of adjectives, いadjectives and なadjectives. いadjectives all end in the Hiragana い (thus they are called いadjectives) and なadjectives are usually* made of all Kanji (even though they are written in Hiragana here) or all Katakana, and they behave VERY differently. The definitive difference appears in front of a noun (in the “attributive use”); that is, only なadjectives need な if they are used in front of a noun, thus they are called なadjectives!

Answer to Today’s Question: b. な

Although ゆうめい ends in -い when written in Hiragana, normally it is written 有名 in Kanji and means “famous” or “well-known” and it is a なadjective. That means, you need な between ゆうめい and the noun after, which is ほん here.

Adjectives are describing words. They are used to describe a noun. In the following pair, the bold word つめたいtsumetai/cold is the adjective and the underlined word みずmizu/water is the noun that つめたいtsumetai/cold is describing.

このkono みずmizu wa つめたいtsumetai ですdesu。 This water is cold.
これkore wa つめたいtsumetai みずmizu ですdesu。This is cold water.

In the above pair, the top sentence has the adjective between wa and ですdesu (“predicative use”) and the second sentence has the adjective immediately before the noun (“attributive use”).

For a list of なadjective which ends in -い, click here.

* The only なadjective that ends in the Hiragana -い and that you need to know as a beginner is きらい (dislike, unfond).

More examples

[なadjectives]

このkono ほんhonwa ゆうめいyuumei ですdesu。This book is famous.
これkorewa ゆうめいyuumeina ほんhon ですdesu。This is a famous book.

そのsono もんだいmondaiwa かんたんkantan ですdesu。This question is easy.
それsorewa かんたんkantanna もんだいmondai ですdesu。This is an easy question.

あのano かばんkabanwa じょうぶjoubu ですdesu。That bag is strong.
あれarewa じょうぶjoubuna かばんkaban ですdesu。That is a strong bag.

あのano こうえんkouenwaしずかshizuka ですdesu。That park is quiet.
あれarewa しずかshizukana こうえんkouen ですdesu。That is a quiet park.

[いadjectives]

このkono みずmizuwa つめたいtsumetai ですdesu。 This water is cold.
これkorewa つめたいtsumetaiみずmizu ですdesu。This is cold water.

このkono ケーキkeekiwa おいしいoishii ですdesu。 This cake is delicious.
これkorewa おいしいoishii ケーキkeeki ですdesu。This is a delicious cake.

このkono セーターseetaawa あたたかいatatakai ですdesu。This jumper is warm.
これkorewa あたたかいatatakai セーターseetaa ですdesu。This is a warm jumper.

そのsono ものがたりmonogatariwaみじかいmijikai ですdesu。That story is short.
それsorewa みじかいmijikai ものがたりmonogatari ですdesu。That is a short story.

あのano まんがmangawa つまらないtsumaranai ですdesu。That cartoon is boring.
あれarewa つまらないtsumaranai まんがmanga ですdesu。That is a boring cartoon.

Today’s point: a なadjective needs な if it’s used in front of a noun.

I will talk about other differences between いadjectives and なadjectives at another time.

Suggested activities

If a sentence below starts with このkonoそのsonoあのano, change it to a sentence starting with これkoreそれsoreあれare or vise-versa. Check your answer with above examples.

  1. あのano かばんkabanwa じょうぶjoubu ですdesu
  2. あのano こうえんkouenwa しずかshizuka ですdesu
  3. あれarewa つまらないtsumaranai まんがmanga ですdesu
  4. このkono セーターseetaawa あたたかいatatakai ですdesu
  5. このkono ほんhonwa ゆうめいyuumei ですdesu
  6. このkono みずmizuwa つめたいtsumetai ですdesu
  7. これkorewa おいしいoishii ケーキkeeki ですdesu
  8. そのsono もんだいmondaiwa かんたんkantan ですdesu
  9. それsorewa みじかいmijikai ものがたりmonogatari ですdesu

Related Posts

You can try doing Exercises 4 to 8 of Module 2 of the Moodle Course.

4 thoughts on “いadjectives and なadjectives

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