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Adjectival Nouns　形容動詞

第14課: Adjectival Nouns　形容動詞

Apart from typical adjectives (keiyōshi 形容詞), there is yet another part of speech that serves the same purpose of describing called "adjectival nouns" in English (its naming in Japanese is a little complicated). Though they describe things in the same way adjectives due, they are syntactically the combination of noun-like words + the copula verb. 

The noun-like property of these words plays a major role in how they behave. Some can be used as true nouns, some may seldom function as true nouns, while others are purely adjectival in all circumstances. To demonstrate this spectrum of noun-like behavior, let's look at two words. 

The first word is kantan 簡単, meaning "easy/simple." This word also exists in Chinese with the same meaning as a typical adjective. However, Japanese doesn't allow for it to be used as a true adjective because it lacks the conjugational morphology※ that distinguishes adjectives. Out of necessity, the only way to say it "is" kantan 簡単 is by treating it as a noun and then following it with the copula verb. Thus, kantan-da 簡単だ in its basic form. But, you can't just use this basic form in front of a noun. This creates a problem we haven't dealt with so far since true adjectives don't look differently whether they're used as the predicate or as an attribute directly before a noun. The solution is changing da だ to na な when placing an adjectival noun in front of another noun to modify the second 'noun.' 

i. その説明は簡単だ。（Shūshikei 終止形）
Sono setsumei wa kantan-da.
That explanation is simple. 

ii. 簡単な説明だ。（Rentaikei 連体形）
Kantan-na setsumei da.
(It's) a simple explanation.

If you are a speaker/learner of Korean, this concept should be familiar to you. Grammatically speaking, the form of an adjective or adjectival noun at the end of a sentence (shūshikei 終止形 ) is not the same form as when either or are placed before a noun to modify it (rentaikei 連体形). As for why these forms look different for adjectival nouns but not for adjectives is simply a matter of history. 

If you look up kantan 簡単 in a dictionary, you'll first notice that it is listed as kantan 簡単 rather as kantan-da 簡単だ or kantan-na  簡単な. The reason for this is that there are many adjectival nouns that are sometimes used as nouns in certain circumstances, and so you'll often see ［名・形動］before the word. Mei 名 is used here as an abbreviation of meishi 名詞 (noun), and keidō 形動 is an abbreviation of the term keiyōdōshi 形容動詞, which is the most widely used name for this class of words. 

The problem with the term keiyōdōshi 形容動詞 is that it literally translates to "adjectival verb" even though they aren't true verbs either. They simply utilize the copula verb out of necessity. To solve the naming problem, Japanese educators and grammarians often call these words "na-type adjectives" (na-keiyōshi ナ形容詞), but some experts dislike this wording also because it ignores how some can be used as nouns. 

This problem is especially obvious with the adjectival noun baka バカ. Many of you may instantly recognize this word as the word for "idiot" or "stupid," but wait a minute... In English, "idiot" is strictly a noun and "stupid" is strictly an adjective. Yet, dictionaries are not fooling you when they list both meanings for バカ. Simply put, it's both a noun and an adjectival-noun. 

iii. 山田君は、バカだね。
Yamada-kun wa, baka(-)da ne.
Yamada-kun, you're sure an idiot.
Yamada-kun sure is stupid, huh.

In English, it just so happens that you can tweak the grammar to make the translation of バカ sound more like a noun or an adjectival noun, but in the context of Japanese grammar, it's best to treat adjectival-noun predicates (na-keiyōshi-jutsugo ナ形容詞述語) as a separate entity, and from there you can study how noun-like a particular word may or may not be.

When referring to these words in general, the term keiyōdōshi 形容動詞 will be used because this is the term that all Japanese speakers are familiar with. However, in more complicated grammar discussions in which other adjectival parts of speech are discussed, the term na-keiyōshi ナ形容詞 will be preferred. In your own personal studies, you may find some authors using the term 名容詞, which is an amalgamation of meishi 名詞 and keiyōshi 形容詞 meant to solve the problems of prior terminologies, but unfortunately this word hasn't caught on just yet. 

Now that we've gone over what is meant by "adjectival noun" and how they look at the end and in the middle of a sentence, let's see some more example words. Conjugation utilizes the copula verb, so no new conjugations are being taught per say aside from learning about the attributive form na な. However, because learning vocabulary is still important, we will nonetheless go over the basic forms of 'adjectival nouns' so that you can used the copula used with them specifically.

※The majority of keiyōdōshi 形容動詞 are of Sino-Japanese origin. However, there are examples of both native and foreign origin. Most examples are still of Sino-Japanese origin, and so we will look at native and foreign examples separately in this lesson once we've gone over conjugation. 

The Non-Past Forms (Plain/Polite)　非過去形（常体・丁寧体）

To form the non-past forms of keiyōdōshi 形容動詞, simply attach either the copula da だ (for plain speech) or its polite form desu です (for polite speech). However, neither copula form is used when a keiyōdōshi 形容動詞 appears before a noun! In this situation, you use na な regardless of the sentence's overall speech register. This is one instance in Japanese grammar in which the Shūshikei 終止形 and the Rentaikei 連体形 are not the same!

We learned in Lesson 13 that true adjectives are not capable of being interpreted as the future tense even in their basic form without introducing other grammar points. Although keiyōdōshi 形容動詞 are typically interpreted as the "present tense" in their non-past forms, this is not a guarantee when it is the predicate. The nature of their non-past forms is a mirror image of the copula that helps form them. However, when modifying a noun directly (as an attribute), only the present tense nuance of the non-past form is possible.
意味
 基本形・連体形（＋な）
 終止形（＋だ）
 終止形（＋です）
 Safe
 Anzen(-na) 安全（な）
 Anzen-da 安全だ
 Anzen-desu 安全です
  Healthy
 Kenkō(-na) 健康（な）
 Kenkō-da 健康だ
 Kenkō-desu 健康です
  Lively/Well
 Genki(-na) 元気（な）
 Genki-da 元気だ
 Genki-desu 元気です
  Convenient
 Benri(-na) 便利（な）
 Benri-da 便利だ
 Benri-desu 便利です
 Inconvenient
 Fuben(-na)不便（な）
 Fuben-da 不便だ
 Fuben-desu 不便です

Orthography Note:

A hyphen will be placed in between the stem of the 形容動詞 and the copula to indicate that they are joined together when being used adjectivally. However, when the 形容動詞 is, in fact, used as a noun, no hyphen will be used. This will make the role of the word clear for whenever you might get confused. This convention will remain true for all forms of the copula.


Terminology Notes:

①Imi 意味 = Meaning

②The basic form (kihonkei 基本形) of keiyōdōshi 形容動詞 is thought to be its attributive form (rentaikei 連体形)--the form that is used to modify nouns), whereas for other conjugatable parts of speech the predicative form (shūshikei 終止形) serves this role. This is because the adjectival nature of these words is indisputable when placed before a noun, but when it's elsewhere in a sentence, depending on the word, it may not be an adjectival at all (ex. バカ！= you idiot!).

Vocabulary Notes:

①Anzen 安全 may also be used as a noun in the sense of "safety."
②健康 may also be used as a noun meaning "health," and its overall meaning is tied strictly to physical health. When asking about whether someone is "健康" or not, it is seldom used directly to someone and is more likely to be directed at people whose health is of concern such as the elderly or those with preexisting conditions. 

③Understanding and using genki 元気 properly requires a considerable amount of study. It is famous for being used in the phrase "o-genki desu ka? お元気ですか" which translates "how are you?" However, both its nominal (noun-like) and adjectival meanings are heavily interconnected to a much deeper cultural concept. See Lesson ??? (this lesson is under construction). 
④Even benri 便利 and fuben 不便 can be used as nouns. For example, 便利が悪い means "(the) convenience (of it) is bad," and the opposite of this is 便利がいい, which translates as "(the) convenience (of it) is good." The odd thing is that although these phrases are listed in dictionaries as Standard Japanese phrases, a large percentage of speakers find them unnatural/ungrammatical, preferring simply using 不便だ and 便利だ respectively. This is a sign of the noun-like meanings of these words disappearing. However, when they are used as the direct object of the sentence, they may still be found in a handful of set phrases. Since the focus of this lesson is on adjectival phrases, we'll leave those usages to future discovery.


Just from this handful of words, we can surmise that many keiyōdōshi 形容動詞 have both nominal and adjectival usages. Of course, the best way to tell the difference is by looking at actual sentences. 


1. 病院は安全です。 (Adjectival)
Byōin wa anzen-desu.
The hospital is safe./Hospitals are safe.


2. 安全第一！(Nominal)
Anzen Dai-Ichi!
Safety First!


3. チェコ語は簡単だ。(Adjectival)
Chekogo wa kantan-da.
Czech is easy.


4. （私たちの）健康は大切です。(Nominal)
(Watashitachi no) kenkō wa taisetsu-desu.
(Our) health is important.


5. 元気な子供ですね。(Adjectival)
Genki-na kodomo desu ne.
The child/children are sure full of energy, huh.


6. 私の歯は健康です。(Adjectival)
Watashi no ha wa kenkō-desu.
My teeth are healthy.


7. 毎日の生活で一番不便なことは何ですか。(Adjectival)
Mainichi no seikatsu de ichiban fuben-na koto wa nan desu ka?
What is the most inconvenient thing in your everyday life?


Grammar Notes:
①The particle か marks a question. We'll learn more about it in Lesson 19. 
②Ichiban 一番 literally means "number one," but when it is used as an adverb, it means "most." Adverbs modify adjectives by being placed in front of them. Because "most" is expressed with an adverb, the adjective itself doesn't change form, which is not the case in English for many adjectives (ex. "good" vs "best"). 

③In Lesson 8, we learned that mono もの means "thing," but when the "thing" is not necessarily a physical object and when there is a need to talk about something in a broad context, we use the word koto こと instead. 


8. ここは便利な店ですね。
Koko wa benri-na mise desu ne.
This sure is a convenient store.


Phrasing Note: "Convenience store" is actually referred to as kombini コンビニ, a shortening of kombiniensu sutoa コンビニエンスストア. This may come as a surprise to Chinese speakers as 便利店 is their word for "convenience store." Interestingly, the phrase benriya 便利屋 does exist in Japanese, but it refers to a "general merchant/Jack of all trades."  


Dropping the Copula


When a 形容動詞 is used as a noun, it goes without saying that it is a separate entity from its tied existence with the copula as an adjectival noun. However, the copula can be omitted in the same situations it can be dropped when used with ordinary nouns like how we saw in Lesson 9. The copula is dropped when the adjectival noun is being used in the predicative form, and by doing so, an interjectory tone is created.


9. おお、見事（だ）！
Ō, migoto (da)!
Oh, how splendid!


10. 僕は元気！
Boku wa genki!
I'm great!

The Existence of Two Attributive Forms: な vs である


When we learned about the copula verb, our main focus was on simple sentences. In this lesson, we have learned that 形容動詞 need the copula to even exist, despite being adjectival in nature. Yet, these "adjectival nouns" are still useable as attributes before a noun just like "true adjectives" (形容詞) thanks to the attributive form な. Remember that です doesn't get an attributive form because, again, it only goes at the end of a sentence. 


Now, if the attributive forms of 形容動詞 are made with な, it may seem redundant to then say that the attributive form of the copula is な, but this fact cannot be overlooked. In fact, the plain conjugations of 形容動詞 share this attributive function with "regular nouns + the copula" because it is the copula which forms them.


In our introduction to Japanese, we learned that Japanese allows entire sentences to become modifiers of another phrase. So long as the modifier is to the left of what it modifies and so long as the speaker applies the correct grammatical glue in between, this statement is always true.  

When "another noun" modifies a noun, as opposed to an adjectival noun (形容動詞), you can't just attach だ as is because だ is solely the predicative form (shūshikei 終止形 ), BUT you can't just use な. Even though な is the attributive form (rentaikei 連体形) for 形容動詞, it cannot be used to link two nouns together※.

In Lesson 9, we briefly learned how だ itself is a contraction and that this is evident from the past tense form datta だった. After all, if -TA stands for past tense in Japanese, then why is there an extra /t/? So, what is the contraction? Unravel だ, and you get de-aru である, and likewise, the unravelling of だった produces de-atta であった. It is these uncontracted forms of the copula that allow us to link nouns together.

11. 自民党の誰々が総理大臣である限り、何も変わらない。
Jimintō no daredare ga sōri daijin de-aru kagiri, nani mo kawaranai. 
As long as so-and-so in the LDP is the Prime Minister, nothing will change.

Although this sentence may seem complex at first, note that the nominal (noun) phrase before である is an entire clause: [Jimintō no daredare ga sōri daijin]. The second noun is kagiri 限り, which has the literal meaning of "limit/extent." When it's modified by an attributive clause, its meaning becomes "as long as." 

である is, in fact, the uncontracted predicative form (shūshikei 終止形 ) and attributive form (rentaikei 連体形), which means that it can also be used with 形容動詞. Because it is both forms, it allows for noun-to-noun modification as we saw in Ex. 11. Contrast this with だ, which is only the predicative form, but also with な which isn't used between two regular nouns. However, neither is である. The first noun before である has to originally be from a noun-predicate. In this case, the original simple noun-predicate would be "sōri daijin da/de-aru 総理大臣だ・である." 

If that last bit was confusing, consider this.

12. 男【である 〇・だ 〇】。
Otoko [de-aru/da]. 
(I/the person) is/am a man.

13. （性自認が）男【である 〇・ だ X・な X】人。
(Seijinin ga) otoko [de-aru 〇/da X/na X] hito. 
A person who(se gender identity) is male. 

14. 男の人です。
(That person) is a man.

Let's say the part in parentheses were dropped from the sentence; the context would still have to imply something of the sort so that otoko 男 originates from a noun-predicate. As demonstrated in Ex. 14, if you want to attach two nouns together in an attributive relationship, you just use the particle no の, which we actually first saw in Lesson 8. As for the phrase 男の人, using the gender word 男 as an attribute of the word for "person" hito 人 makes the phrase politer and more formal. Why the sentence is translated as "(that person) is a man" instead of "I am a man" is not because that such a translation couldn't ever be valid, which it could, but because the likelihood of having to clarify one's gender is far less likely than telling someone the gender of another person.

If you use a "noun + the copula," that noun is from a noun-predicate sentence even if it's a single word at the surface. As for what the second noun can be, Ex. 11 shows us that the noun might be adverbial in nature, but it still has to be a regular noun at its basic understanding because combining predicates together is a completely separate grammatical process.

15. この地域は安全である。(Formal, written language※)
Kono chiiki wa anzen-de-aru.
This area is safe.

16. データが安全[である 〇・な X]ことを確認する。
Dēta ga anzen-[de-aru 〇/-na X] koto wo kakunin suru.
To confirm that data is safe.

17. 安全なデータ
Anzen na dēta
Safe data

Here, we see that even for 形容動詞, when a whole adjectival predicate is carried over to be used as an attribute, you use である instead of な. This makes the grammar of Ex. 16. match that of Ex. 11. Having said this, though, it is also possible for a 形容動詞 to modify just the following noun while still being in a larger attributive clause. 

18. データが安全な状態にある。
Dēta ga anzen-na jōtai ni aru.
The data is in a safe state.

When this is the case, な is the correct rentaikei 連体形. However, consider the following. 

19. 安全な状態
Anzen-na jōtai
A safe state

20. 安全である状態
Anzen-de-aru jōtai
The condition of being safe

This difference hinges on the nominal nature of 形容動詞. If you treat the adjectival-noun more as a noun-predicate being used in the attributive sense, you get Ex. 20. If you are simply adding an adjectival noun to another noun, you get Ex. 21.

※Although な is marked as incorrect in Ex. 16, there are circumstances in which な does replace である in the spoken language in the modifying noun-predicate. 

21. データが安全であることが原因【な △・である 〇】こともある。
Dēta ga anzen-de-aru koto ga gen'in [na △/de-aru 〇] koto mo aru.
There are also cases in which the cause is that the data is safe.

The noun koto こと has a general nominalization effect on what precedes it. Meaning, if what precedes it is not already a noun, it is now. This explains why the である before the first こと isn't な because the clause "dēta ga anzen-de-aru" is being made into a noun by こと in the same way "that" helps make "that the data is safe" a nominal phrase in English. This makes [Dēta ga anzen-de-aru koto ga gen'in] a clause within a clause, and generally speaking, な shouldn't be grammatical here for the same reason it wouldn't be in Exs. 11 and 16. 

The phrase koto ga aru ことがある* utilizes the "incident/event" nuance of its overall meaning of "thing." It is used after phrases that would otherwise be the predicate (noun-predicates, adjectival predicates, verbal predicates). When it is used with 形容動詞, either な or である are allowed as the attributive form. How does this context differ from the ones in Exs. 11 and 16? 

*The particle mo も is used in Ex. 21 instead of the particle ga が to add the meaning of "also."

In Ex. 11, what follows the second noun is a separate independent clause, and である is essentially holding together a rather complicated adverbial phrase. In Ex. 16, the であること phrase is the object of the sentence. In Ex. 21,  [Dēta ga anzen-de-aru koto ga gen'in [na △/de-aru 〇] koto ] is the subject of the sentence. Not only is it the subject of the sentence, the overall sentence structure is a basic existential sentence, whereas neither Ex. 11 nor Ex. 16 are existential in nature. Thus, for there to be any overlap between な and である, the sentence itself must be an existential one. If what precedes is a noun, である is always grammatical with な being questionable, and if what precedes is a 形容動詞, both are allowed but な is preferred with である sounding formal.

※だ  versus である in terms of speech register has to be viewed in the context of grammar. Inside a sentence, we have already seen when it is grammatically necessary to use である. At the end of a sentence, the determination is based on formality. である is not typically used in the spoken language in the predicative form, but when it is, it gives off a very pedantic tone.

The Past Tense Forms (Plain/Polite)　過去形（常体・丁寧体）

All of this information about non-past tense grammar actually helps set the stage for discussing past tense grammar. You can use "形容動詞 +だった" in the attributive sense, but you can't use  "形容動詞 +でした" in this same way. We know this because of the general rule that "polite forms don't have attributive forms." 

22. 綺麗[だった 〇・でした] Xあたし 
Kirei [datta 〇/deshita X] atashi
My once pretty self

23a. 食糧の確保が必要であった時代　(Formal, written language)
23b. 食料の確保が必要だった時代  (Written or Spoken)
23c. 食料の確保が必要でした時代 Ｘ (Incorrect)
Time period when the guarantee of a food supply was important

But why can だった attach to nouns like this in the first place? This is because all plain verbal phrases have a predicate and attributive form, including the past tense marker -TA. It just happens that it doesn't change form based on its location in a sentence. To the contrary, the polite copula です doesn't have an attributive form, which in turn prevents でした from having one. Politeness, thus, is marked at the end of an adjective predicate, regardless if it's a 形容詞 or a 形容動詞.

If you look at the English grammar of Exs. 22 and 23, you'll see some more deeply rooted differences in grammar between the two languages. For one, the past tense isn't expressed by the affix "-ed" in English in either example, but the adjectives in Japanese ARE directly conjugated into the past tense. Also, whereas the conjugated adjective directly modifies the following noun (because it's conjugated into the attributive form for that very purpose), English requires that a helper word like "when" go in between the noun and the following compliment in the case of Ex. 23, and in Ex. 22 we see that "pretty" is before the noun, but that's only because the phrase "my once pretty" is short enough to be placed there. The use of "self" over" I" is a matter of English pronoun use whereas Japanese pronouns are essentially regular nouns that can be modified no differently than any other noun. 

In fact, being able to use any of the plain conjugations we've learned--the non-past, past, negative, negative-past--as attributes shouldn't be new at all as we learned that these forms of 形容詞 can appear in either the predicate or the attributive form. The key difference is that for 形容動詞, the non-past tense does undergo form change depending on position. In all other conjugations, there is no such form change. Therefore, だった remains だった whether it is inside or at the end of a sentence. 

24. あの試験は簡単だった。
Ano shiken wa kantan datta.
That exam was easy.

25. 簡単だった試験
Kantan datta shiken
(A/the) exam that was easy

Now that we've gotten the tricky grammar out of the way, we can go back to adding more important 形容動詞 to your vocabulary while also getting used to seeing them with だった and でした. 
意味
 基本形
 ＋だった（終止形・連体形）
 ＋でした（終止形）
Pretty/Clean
Kirei(-na) 綺麗（な）
  Kirei-datta 綺麗だった
 Kirei-deshita 綺麗でした
Necessary
 Hitsuyō (-na) 必要（な）
 Hitsuyō -datta 必要だった
 Hitsuyō-deshita必要でした
  Important
 Taisetsu(-na) 大切（な）
 Taisetsu-datta 大切だった
 Taisetsu-deshita 大切でした
  Essential
 Jūyō(-na) 重要（な）
 Jūyō-datta 重要だった
 Jūyō-deshita 重要でした
 Crucial/Precious
 Daiji(-na) 大事（な）
 Daiji-datta 大事だった
 Daiji-deshita 大事でした

Vocabulary Notes:

①There is a degree of overlap between the words taisetsu 大切,  jūyō 重要, and daiji 大事 in that they all can translate as "important." However, they are not entirely synonymous. 
・大切  refers to something that's important in the sense that if the thing in question were lost, there would be substantial harm/ache felt on an emotional level. The person/thing is indispensable to you. There is a sense of necessity from the heart.
・重要 refers to objective importance. 
・大事 refers to things/people you take special care to; it/they're important to you. The word may also be used as a noun meaning "serious matter/crisis." 


26. 月は綺麗でした。
Tsuki wa kirei-deshita.
The moon was pretty.


27. 大切だった人
Taisetsu-datta hito
A person who was indispensable/important


28. 英語能力が重要でした。
Eigo nōryoku ga jūyō-deshita.

English proficiency was important.


29. まさに大事だった。
Masa ni daiji(-)datta.
It was a serious matter, exactly.

The Negative Forms (Plain/Polite)　否定形（常体・丁寧体）

The negative forms of 形容動詞 are identical to those of the the copula for the obvious reason that their conjugation powers are inherited from the copula attaching to them. Having said that, there is nothing new that has to be learned here. Just remember that polite forms can't be used as attributes. 


To recap, however, remember that to form the plain negative forms, you change だ to 【では・じゃ】ない. The contracted form じゃない is preferred in the spoken language, but the opposite is true in the written language. However, when contrast needs to be emphasized, ではない prevails even in the spoken language.


To form the polite negative forms, you either add です directly to these plain forms to create 【では・じゃ】ない 【では・じゃない】です or you replace ない with its proper polite form, to get de wa arimasen  【では・じゃ】 ありません. 

意味 
 基本形
 否定形（常体～丁寧体）
 Strange
Hen(-na) 変（な）
Hen-ja-nai 変じゃない
Hen-de-wa-nai 変ではない
Hen-ja-nai desu 変じゃないです
Hen-de-wa-nai desu 変ではないです
Hen-ja-arimasen 変じゃありません
Hen-de-wa-arimasen 変ではありません
 Excellent
Yūshū(-na) 優秀（な）
Yūshū-ja-nai 優秀じゃない
Yūshū-de-wa-nai 優秀ではない
Yūshū-ja-nai desu 優秀じゃないです
Yūshū-de-wa-nai desu 優秀ではないです
Yūshū-ja-arimasen 優秀じゃありません
Yūshū-de-wa-arimasen 優秀ではありません
 Sufficient
Jūbun(-na) 十分（な）
Jūbun-ja-nai 十分じゃない
Jūbun-de-wa-nai 十分ではない
Jūbun-ja-nai desu 十分じゃないです
Jūbun-de-wa-nai desu 十分ではないです
Jūbun-ja-arimasen 十分じゃありません
Jūbun-de-wa-arimasen 十分ではありません
 Real
Hontō(-na) 本当（な）
Hontō-ja-nai 本当じゃない
Hontō-de-wa-nai 本当ではない
Hontō-ja-nai desu 本当じゃないです
Hontō-de-wa-nai desu 本当ではないです
Hontō-ja-arimasen 本当じゃありません
Hontō-de-wa-arimasen 本当ではありません
 Complicated
Fukuzatsu(-na) 複雑（な）
Fukuzatsu-ja-nai 複雑じゃない
Fukuzatsu-de-wa-nai 複雑ではない
Fukuzatsu-ja-nai desu 複雑じゃないです
Fukuzatsu-de-wa-nai desu 複雑ではないです
Fukuzatsu-ja-arimasen 複雑じゃありません
Fukuzatsu-de-wa-arimasen 複雑ではありません

Orthography Note:　
Although the individual parts of the negative forms of the copula could be written out separately, to show the copula attaches to 形容動詞, a hyphen is inserted in between each part with exception to the politeness function of です as this use of です is viewed by many to not be copular in nature. 

Vocabulary Notes:

① Yūshū 優秀 refers to someone's skill(s) being exceptional. 

② Hontō 本当 can also mean "really" and may be used as a noun, adjective, and an adverb. It can also translate as "true," "genuine," etc.


30. この気持ちは変じゃない。
Kono kimochi wa hen-ja-nai.
This/these feeling(s) is/are not strange.


31. あれはもはや重要ではない。
Are wa mohaya jūyō de-wa-nai.
That is no longer important.


32. この人は会社員としては優秀じゃありません。
Kono hito wa kaishain to shite wa yūshū-ja-arimasen.
This person isn’t excellent as a company employee.


33. 酸素は有害ではありません。
Sanso wa yūgai-de-wa-arimasen
Oxygen is not harmful.


34. 私は平気じゃないです。
Watashi wa heiki-ja-nai desu.
I’m not fine.

The Negative-Past Forms (Plain/Polite) 過去の否定形（常体・丁寧体）

The negative-past is most likely going to appear at the end of the sentence, but when it does appear mid-sentence, it is most likely in an imbedded sentence (a predicate turned into a modifier). As far as what the negative-past looks like from plain~polite speech for 形容動詞, these forms look no different than they did with the copula as, again, the copula is what conjugates them. 


With that being said, we will forego an etymological breakdown. Instead, the recap chart below will still show two examples with the different variations ranked from least to most polite. By now, you should be comfortable with understanding how formality is affected by speech style (plain vs. polite) and contractions (では vs じゃ). You will notice, however, as was the case in the last few examples, that other 形容動詞 not shown in the conjugation charts will be used in aims to boost your vocabulary.

意味
 基本形
 過去の否定形（常体～丁寧体）
Dangerous
 Kiken(-na) 危険（な）
Kiken-ja-nakatta 危険じゃなかった
Kiken-de-wa-nakatta 危険ではなかった
Kiken-ja-nakatta desu 危険じゃなかったです
Kiken-de-wa-nakatta desu 危険ではなかったです
Kiken-ja-arimasendeshita 危険じゃありませんでした
Kiken-de-wa-arimasendeshita 危険ではありませんでした
 Appropriate
 Tekisetsu(-na) 適切（な）
Tekisetsu-ja-nakatta 適切じゃなかった
Tekisetsu-de-wa-nakatta 適切ではなかった
Tekisetsu-ja-nakatta desu 適切じゃなかったです
Tekisetsu-de-wa-nakatta desu 適切ではなかったです
Tekisetsu-ja-arimasendeshita 適切じゃありませんでした
Tekisetsu-de-wa-arimasendeshita 適切ではありませんでした
Vocabulary Note:
①Kiken 危険 has a rather serious tone. There is a very similar synonym, abunai 危ない, which is almost identical minus etymology. The former is of Sino-Japanese origin whereas the latter is of native origin. When used as an exclamation, one would use the latter. For instance, if your kid is about to get ran over if they don't move, you might yell, "あ、危ない!"

35. 野菜は新鮮じゃありませんでした。
Yasai wa shinsen-ja-arimasendeshita.
The vegetables weren’t fresh.

36. 昔は公平ではありませんでした。
Mukashi wa kōhei-de-wa-arimasendeshita.
The olden days were not fair.


37. 全然失礼じゃなかったですよ。
Zenzen shitsurei ja nakatta desu yo.
(That) wasn’t rude at all.


38. 私、冷静じゃなかったですね。
Watashi, reisei-ja-nakatta desu ne.
I wasn’t calm, huh.


39. 僕は別に特別じゃなかったです。
Boku wa betsu ni tokubetsu-ja-nakatta desu.
I wasn’t particularly special.


40. 記述が正確じゃなかった。
Kijutsu ga seikaku-ja-nakatta.
The description wasn’t accurate.


41. 初恋は残酷でした。
Hatsukoi wa zankoku-deshita.
My first love was cruel.


42. それは適切ではなかった。
Sore wa tekisetsu-de-wa-nakatta.
That was not appropriate.


43. あの町は危険じゃなかった。
Ano machi wa kiken-ja-nakatta.
That town wasn’t dangerous.


44. 彼らは熱心じゃなかった。
Karera wa nesshin-ja-nakatta.
They weren’t enthusiastic.

Native Adjectival Nouns 　和語系の形容動詞

Some resources erroneously state that 形容動詞 arose due to influence from Chinese loanwords. Although it is true that most are Sino-Japanese in origin, native adjectival nouns have presumably always existed, and many even have a 形容詞 counterpart. 


Sometimes the adjectival noun form is made by dropping /i/ and just using the stem, but most are made by following the stem with the suffixes -ka か, -raka らか, or-yaka やか※. The difference in nuance is usually that the 形容動詞 forms are more fitting in abstract, intangible contexts and/or refined speech. Seeing what words each pair of words are used with respectively is the best way to grasp nuance differences that may exist.

意味
 語幹
 形容詞
 形容動詞
（＋か・らか・やか等）
New
Ara-
 Atarashii 新しい
 Arata-da 新ただ △
Quiet
Shizu-
 Shizuka-da 静かだ
 Loud
  Taka-
 Takai 高い
 高らかだ △
 Soft
 Yawa-
 Yawarakai 柔らかい
 Yawaraka-da 柔らかだ  △
 Fine/small
 Koma-
 Komakai 細かい※
Komaka-da  細かだ △
 Flat
 Tai-
 Taira-da 平らだ
 Small
 Chiisa-
 Chiisai 小さい
 Chiisana 小さな
 Big
   Ō-
  Ōkii 大きい
  Ōkina 大きな
Vocabulary Notes:
①The purpose of knowing what the stem of an adjective is to get sense for how derived words are made from it.
②In the case of 新しい vs 新ただ, the root is actually ara-. 新しい is by far the most common form for "new" whereas 新ただ is essentially non-existent. However, its attributive form 新たな is frequently used, but it has a different tone than 新しい. You'll often hear it used emphatically, almost in a romanticized nuance. 
③高らか doesn't have the same meanings as 高い. They can both refer to loud sounds, but the nature of the sounds described by 高らか tend to be romanticized in context and it is often translated as "sonorous."
④The 形容動詞 forms 柔らかだ and 細かだ are only commonly used as attributes, and they are hardly ever used as predicates.
⑤The reason why no hyphen is placed before な in 小さな and 大きな is because it is thought to be completely fused to them. In fact, these forms are strictly attributive and cannot be changed into any other conjugation. See Lesson 60 for more about this grammatical phenomenon.

45 新たな冒険がいま、始まります！
Arata-na bōken ga ima, hajimarimasu!
A new adventure starts now!

46. あの図書館は静かです。
Ano toshokan wa shizuka-desu.
That library is quiet.

47. 柔らかな風が吹く。
Yawaraka-na kaze ga fuku.
Gentle wind blows.

48. 柔らかい布を使う。
Yawarakai nuno wo tsukau.
To use soft cloth.

49. 皆さん、大きな拍手をお願いします。
Mina-san, ōkina hakushu wo onegai shimasu.
Everyone, please give a big round of applause.

50. 平らな石が二つありました。
Taira-na ishi ga futatsu arimashita.
There were two flat stones.

※The forms 細（こま）い, 細かい, 細かだ, and 細やかだ for the general meaning of "fine/detailed" all exist, but and the exact differences between them tell a lot about how 形容詞 and 形容動詞 in native vocabulary differ. 

Of course, there are other native adjectival nouns that aren't created with the suffixes -ka か, -raka らか, or-yaka やか. As for the rest, the only way to distinguish them from nouns is by verifying their semantic role in a sentence if used as the predicate. When used in the attributive form, the presence of な alone would indicate their adjectival nature. Here, you can see that many of these words are common-use adjectives.
意味
 形容動詞
 意味
 形容動詞
Rare
 Mare(-na) 稀（な）
Warped
 Ibitsu(-na) 歪（な）
 Reckless
 Nageyari(-na) 投げやり（な）
Various
 Iroiro(-na) 色々（な）
 Pitiful
 Aware(-na) 哀れ（な）
 Unpleasant
Iya(-na) 嫌（な） 
 Obvious
 Atarimae(-na) 当たり前
 Dirty
  Etchi(-na) エッチ（な）

Vocabulary Notes:

①Atarimae 当たり前 actually comes from a misspelling of tōzen 当然 turned into a native word. The two words are interchangeable. 

②Despite being spelled in Katakana or even as the letter H, the word etchi エッチ meaning "dirty (lewd)" is actually Japanese-derived but thanks to foreign influence. The leading theory is that it does indeed come from the "H" in the romanized spelling of hentai 変態, which is a noun many foreigners know to mean "(sexual) perversion," but its Japanese meaning is actually broader than this and can actually refer to abnormalities in general as well as metamorphosis/transformation in science.


51. トレーニングが必要なことも稀ではありません。
Torēningu ga hitsuyō-na koto mo mare-de-wa-arimasen.
It is also not rare for training to be necessary.


52. 歪な形をしている。
Ibitsu-na katachi wo shite iru.
It has a warped shape.


53. それは当たり前だよ。
Sore wa atarimae-da yo.
That's obvious.


54. 投げやりな態度
Nageyari-na taido
A reckless attitude

Foreign Adjectival Nouns　外来系の形容動詞

Whenever an adjectival phrase is either borrowed from or inspired by a modern foreign language, the resultant phrase is by default a 形容動詞※. Most examples happen to have existing vocabulary to fit their role, but for whatever reason, they continue being borrowed into the language anyway. For instance, there are already other phrases that translate as "unique" such as dokutoku-na 独特な, but the English-derived yuniiku-na ユニークな also exists. 

意味
 形容動詞
 意味
 形容動詞
 Modern
 モダン（な）
Handsome
ハンサム（な）
 Realistic
 リアル（な）
  Chic
 シック（な）
 Smart/slender/stylish
 スマート（な）
  Formal
 フォーマル（な）
Thousands of loanwords, primarily from English, have been borrowed, but only a few have been 形容動詞. When an adjectival loanword first appears, it is generally only seen in the attributive form until the word catches on. In some cases, it takes decades for a word to stick. The example words above have all been in the language for a long time, and so speakers use them like any other adjectival noun. 

Sometimes, a word starts out as a prefix before being able to be used with な. The English word "black" was borrowed into Japanese as burakku ブラック, and its use as a 形容動詞 is in flux. In the phrase burakku-kōhii ブラックコーヒー, for instance, it is certainly being used adjectivally, but な is not used. The English phrase as a whole is simply borrowed as a compound word. Over time, though, the word took on meanings that didn't exist for the word in English. For instance, it frequently means "corrupt/dark" in phrases like burakku-kigyō  ブラック企業 (enterprise that exploits its workers/sweatshop), burakku-jōku ブラックジョーク (dark jokes), and burakku-yūmoa ブラックユーモア (dark humor). Through these phrases, burakku(-na) ブラック（な）has become a phrase, being synonymous with the Japanese phrase haraguroi 腹黒いmeaning, "malicious/black-hearted. 

The best way to see how these loanwords are used is by looking at example sentences. Note that many words may end up being used rather differently than how they were used in their source language.

55. リアルなゲームが好きです。
Riaru-na gēmu ga suki-desu.
I like realistic games.

56. 建物がユニークでした。
Tatemono ga yuniiku-deshita.
The building(s) was/were unique.

57. シンプルなデザインのメリット
Shimpuru-na dezain no meritto
The merit(s) of a simple design

58. メジャーな曲
Mejā-na kyoku
Famous song

59. メジャーデビュー
Mejā debyū
Major debut

60. スマートな身なり
Sumāto-na minari
Stylish attire

61. もっとスマートなやり方があった。
Motto sumāto-na yarikata ga atta.
There was a smarter way to do it.

62. スマートな体型の男性
Sumatā-na taikei no dansei
A man with a slim build

※There was a slang word in the 1980s which turned the English word now into a 形容詞 as naui ナウい. Although this word still has recognition to this day, it is no longer trendy as it means. 

In Conclusion...　最後に…

Adjectival nouns are more complicated than just adding the copula to an adjective-like word. Learning about their conjugations teaches us even more about how the copula works overall. Both semantically and syntactically, they are truly like a hybrid between adjectives and nouns. Additionally, knowing the difference between the "predicative form" and the "attributive form" isn't some esoteric knowledge as there are real consequences of this distinction. We learned the difference of what it means for a predicate to modify a noun versus an actual adjectival noun as well as what happens when a regular noun is the attribute of another (the particle no の).

Speech register remains another major facet of Japanese grammar. What is meant by plain and polite, written language or spoken language, formal or informal, etc. affects an entire discourse. This was especially true when we looked at である. Writing it off as a formal variant only works if we're talking about the predicative form; without covering its attributive function, you limit yourself from learning more about how complex adjectival-noun attributive phrases are formed like in Exs. 14 and 19. 

Word origin also showed itself to be another characteristic of Japanese phrasing that cannot be ignored. Most 形容動詞 are of Sino-Japanese origin, but most Sino-Japanese words are used in the written language. For those adjectival nouns that happen to be of native or foreign origin, how they differ from other similar meaning adjectives will be a case-by-case basis to follow up on in your studies. In this lesson, we only saw a handful of example worlds so you have a baseline to start incorporating this part of speech into your blooming Japanese lexicon, but the more you hear natives speak and converse with them, you'll hard more these words pop up. 

The last point that was brought up was how familiar adjectives in English are transformed grammatically and semantically upon entering Japanese. Would you have imagined the unique nuances that ブラック has? Even a simple adjective like スマート has three separate usages, only one of which resembles its original English meaning. 

Perhaps the most daunting task that was only hinted at in this lesson was that the "na-adjectival nouns" you've learned about are not the only kinds of adjectival nouns. In fact, the adjectival nouns described in this lesson are the easiest to use and master. The next group of adjectival nouns we'll cover will be "no-adjectival nouns," which we'll get to in Lesson 51. As surprising as it may seem, the particle の does, in fact, overlap with な for hundreds of adjectival nouns. Next, though, we'll turn our focus to verbal sentences. 

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