So I’m really struggling to get into my head how to tell an い adjective and a な adjectives apart!
I have done my revision on Bunpro, I have looked at online guides and have also looked at Tae Kim; I just don’t get it!
The only clarity I thought I had was the trick of putting とても (Very) in front of the adjective. My understanding is that if the sentence makes sense, then it’s a な adjective.
An example being:
1- とてまきれい – very pretty (makes sense)
2- とてまそと – very outside (doesn’t make sense)
To me this means pretty is a な adjective and outside is an い adjective. However, I can across a question where I had to answer what type of adjective ‘hot’ was. I though in my head “very hot, so it must be a な adjective”, yet it came up incorrect!
I need someone to explain to me how this works, please. I’m not getting stressed or anything, I genuinely love that my brain is itching trying to work this out; I just need clarity haha! Thanks, folks.
4 comments
Not sure what other advice to offer but outside is not an adjective. I adjectives always end in i eg kawaii, atatakai. Some na adjectives, like kirei, also do. You can definitely say totemo kawaii.
You are having trouble identifying them? Just work on them in your study and you will know what kind they are
eventually you memorize them beca There are only so many used in normal life
in my anki deck all na adjectives are written as げんき(な) for example, so I know as soon as i learn an adjective what type it is
you can put “very” in front of any adjective, so I dont think your trick works
I mean, い adjectives usually have い at the end.
Also, when you use a な adjective before a noun, the adjective has な after it. For example, きれいなえ (a beautiful picture/drawing).
And an い adjective doesn’t change when you use it before a noun. For example, やさしいひと (a kind person).
To remember it, I’d just remember it by remembering sentences where you put them before nouns.
Also, like everyone else said, そと is not an adjective and you can use とても with い adjectives as well.