Advanced Adjectives: Noun Phrases & Particular Particles

Last time, you learned how Japanese adverbs work. By utilizing adverbs, you can express degree or manner of things, e.g. “極きわめて辛からい: extremely spicy.” ”かなり辛からい: quite spicy,” ”あまり辛からくない: not very spicy,” and ”まったく辛からくない: not spicy at all.” In this lesson, we will try to delve deeper into the world of Japanese adjectives as there are some points that Japanese learners are often confused by.

Three Points Which Learners Should Know Regarding Japanese Adjectives

1. Noun Phrases with Adjectives

The above examples are the types of adjectives that you have learned so far. However, you may sometimes want to specifically modify nouns such as “a woman with beautiful hair.” In that case, you can actually just add some elements.

That’s very useful, isn’t it? Let’s form some sentences with noun phrases.

The role of noun phrases will be determined by the particles placed after modified nouns. In the first and second examples, there is no particle, but だ / です, which indicates states-of-being. Thus, the roles should be complement. In the third example, the particle に give the noun phrase the role: Destination.

2. Adjectives with Particular Particles

When you directly modify nouns by using adjectives, some adjectives require some elements like objects and targets. For example, this sentence: “上手うまい田た中なかさん: Tanaka-san [who is] skillful” is vague because no one knows what Tanaka-san is skillful at.

Use the Particle が When Adjectives Are Related to Potential

This is one of the functions of the particle が: expressing objects of potential. When you use adjectives like the ones above, you need to add objects with the particle が. Here are some examples:

Use the Particle に When Adjectives Are Related to Attitude and Eligibility

Attitude

Eligibility

When you use adjectives like the above, you need to add targets with the particle に. Here are some examples.

Use the Particle と When Adjectives Are Related to Interactive Relationship

When you use adjectives like the ones above, you need to add partners of interaction with the particle と. Here are some examples:

Both the Particle に and と Are Allowed When Adjectives Are Related Positions and Similarity

Positions

Similarity

Considering the functions of the particle に: Target, and the particle と: Interaction of Partners, it’s reasonable that you can express position and similarity either way.

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3. Detailed Usage of Adjectives

Taking this opportunity that you’re learning advanced adjectives; we’d like to mention some exceptions and important usages.

いい VS. よい

Both いい and よい can be translated as “good.” The difference is that よい is a formal word and used in written Japanese while いい is a casual word and used in spoken Japanese. However, when you conjugate よい and いい, you can use only よい. This is applicable for other words with いい as well, e.g. “かっこいい: cool,” “仲なかがいい: close, intimate” and “頭あたまがいい: bright, intelligent.”

Exception

When you directly modify nouns by using “good” in Japanese, you always use いい regardless whether it’s spoken or written Japanese.

Adjectives VS. The function of the Particle の: Explanation

As we explained in the previous article, the particle の can work to make an explanation like “車くるまの本ほん: book about cars.” Some adjectives require you to substitute themselves for the particle の depending on the context.

近ちかくの Vs. 近ちかい

“近ちかい: near” and the antonym: “遠とおい: far” are adjectives while “近ちかく: nearness” and “遠とおく: farness” are nouns. When you’re talking about distance from where you are, which is generally omitted in a sentence, the nouns with the particle の are more suitable.

When they are in noun phrases, you can use both of the expressions. Many textbooks say that 近ちかい and 遠とおい are more natural in noun phrases; however, native speakers often use 近ちかくの and 遠とおくの as well. *Note: “多おおい: many” and “少すくない: a little” have the same rule as 近ちかい and 遠とおい.

In Japanese, 近ちかい and 遠とおい can express time as well. In this context, 近ちかくの and 遠とおくの  cannot be used.

Adjectives with Irregular Conjugations

大おおきい VS. 大おおきな

When you directly modify nouns by using “大おおきい: big” and “小ちいさい: small,” Japanese people sometimes replace い with な like “大おおきな夢ゆめ: big dream,” even though it’s an i-adjective. The difference in nuance is not clearly defined. Thus, you can use both of them for the time being.

同おなじ: same

• When you use 同おなじ as a subject complement, you say 同おなじ（だ / です）or （じゃない / じゃありません）
• When you directly modify nouns with 同おなじ, you don’t need to add anything , e.g. “同おなじ学校がっこう: same school”
• When you use 同おなじ as adverb, you add く: 同おなじく
• When you use the sentence pattern “adjective + する (*you will learn this later),” you add に: 同おなじ に

This is the trickiest one. Although some dictionaries define this as a noun, Wasabi regards this as an adjective. The above is the conjugation rules.

Summary

1. You can make a noun phrase with adjectives like 私わたしが好すきな食たべ物もの.
2. You use the particle が when adjectives are related to potential.
3. You use the particle に when adjectives are related to attitude and eligibility.
4. You use the particle と when adjectives are related to interactive relationships.
5. There are some exceptions of conjugations.

As you may notice, the knowledge of the functions of Japanese particles is really helpful for using various adjectives in place. If you have some doubts, we recommend to review them here. Next, you will try another advanced topic: Intransitive VS. Transitive Verbs.

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