Japanese/Lessons/Na-adjectives

Related content

• Japanese/Grammar/Adjectives

Related lesson

• Japanese/Lessons/I-adjectives

There are two types of adjectives in modern Japanese: な- and い-adjectives. Both are descriptive and modify nouns. They describe nouns and form predicates differently.

The な-adjectives (形容動詞, けいようどうし) conjugate with nouns by appending "〜な" before the following noun.

Watch and Listen

Listen to the teacher read the following phrases, or click here to listen on your computer.

Adjective	Noun	Adjective and noun
元気(げんき)だ。	人(ひと)だ。	元気(げんき)な人(ひと)だ。
奇麗(きれい)だ。	女(おんな)だ。	奇麗(きれい)な女(おんな)だ。
ハンサムだ。	男(おとこ)だ。	ハンサムな男(おとこ)だ。
優秀(ゆうしゅう)だ。	学生(がくせい)だ。	優秀(ゆうしゅう)な学生(がくせい)だ。
有名(ゆうめい)だ。	歌手(かしゅ)だ。	有名(ゆうめい)な歌手(かしゅ)だ。
大切(たいせつ)だ。	授業(じゅぎょう)だ。	大切(たいせつ)な授業(じゅぎょう)だ。
簡単(かんたん)だ。	宿題(しゅくだい)だ。	簡単(かんたん)な宿題(しゅくだい)だ。

Vocabulary

Nouns

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
人	person, people	ひと
女	woman	おんな
男	man	おとこ
授業	class (session, not group of people), lecture	じゅぎょう
宿題	homework	しゅくだい

な-adjectives

Japanese	English	Reading	Notes
奇麗	beautiful; clean, tidy	きれい
ハンサム	handsome	ハンサム
優秀	excellent	ゆうしゅう
有名	famous	ゆうめい
大切	important	たいせつ
簡単	simple, easy	かんたん

Grammar

な-Adjective Predicates

When used as predicates, な-adjectives behave just like nouns:

<な-adjective>	です
	だ

Examples:

奇麗(きれい)です。	(She) is pretty. (formal)
有名(ゆうめい)です。	(It) is famous. (formal)
簡単(かんたん)です。	(This) is simple. (formal)
元気(げんき)だ。	(I'm) well. (informal)
ハンサムだ。	(He) is handsome. (informal)
優秀(ゆうしゅう)だ。	(They) are bright. (informal)
大切(たいせつ)だ。	(That) is important. (informal)

Related lesson

• Japanese/Lessons/Personal pronouns

Note that the pronouns are usually dropped when they can be inferred from context. The pronouns in the English version are examples only to make better formed English sentences. For example, "元気(げんき)だ" can mean any of: "I'm well," "He's well," "They're well," etc.

な-Adjectives noun modifiers

When preceding a modified noun, な-adjectives take a "な" before the noun:

<な-adjective> な <noun>	です
	だ

Examples:

English	Adjective	noun	sentence
a healthy person	元気(げんき)	人(ひと)	元気(げんき)な人(ひと)です。
a famous doctor	有名(ゆうめい)	医者(いしゃ)	有名(ゆうめい)な医者(いしゃ)です。
an important class	大切(たいせつ)	授業(じゅぎょう)	大切(たいせつ)な授業(じゅぎょう)です。

Practice

Try writing and speaking out the following sentences in Japanese:

Formal Japanese

1. I am well.
2. He is bright.
3. She is famous.
4. That is simple.
5. She is a pretty woman.
6. He is a healthy man.
7. This is an important class.
8. They are bright students.

Informal Japanese

1. He is famous.
2. She is well.
3. They are bright.
4. This is important.
5. He is a handsome man.
6. She is an important person.
7. This is a tidy classroom.
8. They are healthy students.

Other ideas for practice include:

• Write な-adjectives on pieces of paper along with nouns and keep these in separate stacks. Pick one of each and say the sentence.
• Now write the English on the other side and repeat, this time translating as well.
• Make pictures to represent the sentences and drill with those.
• Write a short story or describe something that happened to you.

If you need help gathering adjectives, you can search for lists on smart.fm. To check your story, you can post it on Lang-8.