な-adjectives
JLPT N5:adjectives that take な
Adjectives that take な before a noun and otherwise behave like nouns, like 静か (quiet) and 元気 (well, lively).
How to form it
- Before a noun, add な: 静かな部屋 (a quiet room).
- At the end of a sentence, add です or だ, just as with a noun: この部屋は静かです.
- The negative is じゃない or ではない and the past is だった or でした.
- To join to what follows, add で. To make an adverb, add に.
Examples
Example sentences
この部屋は静かです。
This room is quiet.
元気な子供ですね。
What a lively child.
Notes
- A few な-adjectives end in い, like きれい (pretty, clean) and 嫌い (disliked).
- 好き (liked) and 嫌い mark the thing liked or disliked with が: 猫が好きです.
- 大きな and 小さな exist beside 大きい and 小さい, but they only go before nouns.
Common mistakes
- Leaving out な before a noun. Say 静かな町, not 静か町.
- Conjugating it like an い-adjective. Say きれいじゃない, not きれくない.
Similar meaning
- い-adjectivesadjectives ending in い
Adjectives that end in い and change that い: 高くない.