Question about “na adjectives”

3 comments

1. The best guide is what the dictionary tells you when you look the word up (if you are learning, I assume you will be doing this a lot). You will discover that some words that “end in” い are na-adjectives, such as きれい.

   There’s lots more to say about this, but I don’t want to overload you with information.

2. A な adjective is an adjective that needs な when you put it in front of a noun.

   げんきなこども An energetic child

   きれいなへや A clean room

   へんなやさい A weird vegetable

   Generally, any adjective that doesn’t end in -ai, -ii, -oi, or -ui is a na adjective. (If it ends in -ei, it’s a na adjective. I can’t think of any exceptions to that…)

3. -i adjectives have that -i as an integral part of their formation. Akai, kurai, tsuyoi, etc. The -i is needed at all times, even when used with desu.

   -na adjectives have that -na as an external affix to their formation. They exist as regular words, possibly even as nouns in some situations or verbs (with suru) in others. Genki, shizuka, karen, fukuzatsu, etc. The -na is not needed unless they are placed directly in front of a noun to modify.

   There are times where it looks like an -i adjective but is not, with kirei being the most common example. The kanji for kirei are 綺麗, which includes the i within it (not as a suffix), but that’s not always obvious since the word’s normally written in hiragana due to the kanji being much too complicated for everyday writing.