Japanese Hobby

Review of Violet Evergarden

<div><img alt="violetevergarden" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-3893" height="221" src="https://theotakujudge.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/violetevergarden.jpg?w=300&h=221" width="300">
Two weeks ago I signed up for a Netflix trial, in order to watch Castlevania season two. When posting my review of said series I asked readers what else I should check out on Netflix. My followers have good taste, so I was certain they would leave some excellent recommendations. A few of you suggested that I stream Violet Evergarden. Plot twist – I had already seen the series a few months ago, via less legal means. The series is so good however that I didn’t mind re-watching it again. On this occasion, to freshen things up, I decided to try out the dub version. For those of you who are unaware, Violet Evergarden is a thirteen episode anime based off an award winning light novel trilogy of books. Since its broadcast an OVA has been released and a movie is scheduled to come out early in 2020.
OVERVIEW
Violet Evergarden is a battle hardened orphan girl who was picked up by navy officer Dietfried Bougainvillea during one of his missions. He recognized that anyone who resembles Saber (from the Fate franchise) must be a kick ass warrior. Dietfried ends up gifting Violet to his younger brother Gilbert on his birthday. Gilbert is a major in the army and has recently been ordered to tour the front lines. Dietfried hopes that Violet will serve as his sibling’s bodyguard during the dangerous operations that are to follow. Unlike his bro, who treats the protagonist like a tool, Gilbert showers Violet with kindness. He teaches her how to speak, buys her gifts and makes the ultimate sacrifice in the war’s decisive battle. When Violet is placed in peril, Gilbert saves her and sadly perishes in the process.
Miss Evergarden didn’t escape from the incident unscathed. She lost both arms and had them replaced with mechanical appendages. After recovering from her injuries, Violet is placed in the care of Gilbert’s pal Claudia Hodgins (who is a bloke, despite what his first name may suggest.) Hodgins runs a post office and eventually hires Violet for the position of Auto Memories Doll. In the nation where this anime takes place, Auto Memories Doll is a title given to females who specialize in writing letters for others. Violet seems suited for the position because, as Ghost in the Shell has taught us, women with robotic hands are speedy typists. She hopes that putting people’s feelings into words will teach her more about human emotions. Eventually she may even learn what Gilbert’s final words to her “I love you” meant.
VERDICT
I am awarding Violet Evergarden a score of five stars. This series is a strong contender for best anime I have watched in 2018. Whether others agree with that assessment or not will depend on their patience levels. The early episodes are slow paced affairs that chronicle how Violet learned the tools of the trade and how she bonded with her new coworkers. After that the show settles into a more episodic format. Violet’s reputation rises, attracting work from across the land. She travels far and wide to help scholars transcribe ancient texts and assists royalty with the composition of love letters. Although there are moments that are sweet and funny, I would advise anyone who watches this anime to keep a handkerchief close by. Scenes of grief are never too far away in this show. The episodes about the sickly mother and the one about the drunken novelist, who is writing a play, will summon the onion cutting ninjas who we last encountered in Clannad.
Some critics have complained that Violet isn’t a likable lead, as she is someone who struggles with expressing emotion. That surprised me, given anime’s history. Last time I checked Rei Ayanami and Ruri Hoshino are very popular with audiences, despite having cold personalities. Violet’s demeanor is understandable given that she grew up as a battlefield slave. One of the show’s highlights is seeing how she begins to open up more, thanks in part to her interactions with others. Another positive in the anime’s favor is the stellar animation and artwork. That should go without saying though, given that beautiful imagery is something we all have come to expect from a production by Kyoto Animation. Whether it’s a blonde typist trekking across the picturesque countryside or half naked guys swimming in a pool, they really know how to make things look pretty onscreen.
 

 
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Review of Violet Evergarden

Two weeks ago I signed up for a Netflix trial, in order to watch Castlevania season two. When posting my review of said series I asked readers what else I should check out on Netflix. My followers ha…

29 Nov 2018

Na-Adjectives in Japanese, ～な, ナ形容詞

<div>na-adjectives are words that are usually turned into attributive adjectives by adding a na な after them. Some na-adjectives are always classified as adjectives, but others can be classified as nouns or adverbs when they don't have the na. 
 
The term for "na-adjective" in Japanese is na-keyoushi ナ形容詞, abbreviated na-kei ナ形. They're also confusingly called "adjectival nouns" in English and "adjectival verbs" in Japanese, keiyou-doushi 形容動詞, abbreviated keidou 形動. 
 
<a name="more"></a><h2 id="relationship-with-copulas">
Relationship with Copulas</h2>
Before starting the real article, allow me to offer a summarized version of how na-adjectives work. If you don't understand something written in this section, rest assured it's explained in excruciating detail in the grammar section below. 
 
The na particle that comes after na adjectives is the attributive copula na な. Besides it, there's the predicative copula da だ. The adverbial copula ni に. And the te-form of the da copula, which's de で. 
 
Anything that's related to na-adjectives is just switching one copula for another copula. 
 
 
And there's more: na-adjectives are considered to be adjectives, so they can't fit the role of a noun grammatically. However, the copulas na, ni, da, de can be used with nouns and noun phrases that aren't classified as na-adjectives. 
 
That means, for example, that you can say neko na hito 猫な人, "a person who is a cat," even though neko isn't classified as a na-adjective. A lot of the grammar valid for na-adjectives is also valid for nouns and noun phrases. 
<h2 id="conjugation">
Conjugation</h2>
Since na-adjectives are just words with a na added after them, there's no way to conjugate or inflect the na-adjective itself, like you'd be able to do with the true adjectives, the <a></a> 
 
However, mostly everything you can do with an i-adjective you can do with a na-adjective, except not through inflection, through changing the na particle for something else instead. 
 
For reference, na-adjective equivalents of i-adjective inflections: 
<ul>
<li>subarashii 素晴らしい 
Splendid. (i-adjective.)</li>
<li>migoto 見事 
Magnificent. (na-adjective.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Predicative form. (shuushikei 終止形)</li>
<ul>
<li>X ga subarashii ◯が素晴らしい 
X is splendid.</li>
<li>X ga migoto ◯が見事 
X is magnificent. 
(predicative doesn't need na な!)</li>
</ul>
<li>Attributive form. (rentaikei 連体形)</li>
<ul>
<li>subarashii X 素晴らしい◯ 
A splendid X.</li>
<li>migoto na X 見事な◯ 
A magnificent X.</li>
</ul>
<li>Predicative past form.</li>
<ul>
<li>X ga subarashikatta ◯が素晴らしかった 
X was splendid.</li>
<li>X ga migoto datta ◯が見事だった 
X was magnificent.</li>
</ul>
<li>Attributive past form.</li>
<ul>
<li>subarashikatta X 素晴らしかった◯ 
An X that was splendid.</li>
<li>migoto datta X 見事だった◯ 
An X that was magnificent.</li>
</ul>
<li>Predicative negative form.</li>
<ul>
<li>X ga subarashikunai ◯が素晴らしくない 
X isn't splendid.</li>
<li>X ga migoto janai ◯が見事じゃない 
X ga migoto dewanai ◯が見事ではない 
X isn't magnificent.</li>
</ul>
<li>Attributive negative form.</li>
<ul>
<li>subarashikunai X 素晴らしくない◯ 
An X that isn't splendid.</li>
<li>migoto denai X 見事でない◯ 
An X that isn't magnificent.</li>
</ul>
<li>Te-form.</li>
<ul>
<li>subarashikute 素晴らしくて 
Splendid and...</li>
<li>migoto de 見事で 
Magnificent and...</li>
</ul>
<li>Adverbial form.</li>
<ul>
<li>subarashiku odoru ◯が素晴らしく踊る 
To dance splendidly.</li>
<li>migoto ni odoru ◯が見事に踊る 
To dance magnificently.</li>
</ul>
<li>Naru-form.</li>
<ul>
<li>subarashiku naru ◯が素晴らしくなる 
Will become splendid.</li>
<li>migoto ni naru ◯が見事になる 
Will become magnificent.</li>
</ul>
<li>Sa-form</li>
<ul>
<li>subarashisa 素晴らしさ 
Splendid-ness.</li>
<li>migoto sa 見事さ 
Magnificent-ness.</li>
</ul>
<li>Suffix: sou.</li>
<ul>
<li>subarashisou 素晴らしそう 
Seems splendid.</li>
<li>migoto sou 見事そう 
Seems magnificent.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<h3 id="conjugation-chart">
Chart</h3>
For reference, a chart with na-adjective inflections. 
 
<h2 id="grammar">
Grammar</h2>
The grammar behind na-adjectives is 300% reliant on the <a></a>copulas, like, more than one of them. 
 
There's even a book that talks only about them: <a></a> 
 
But it's made for linguists, and I'm no linguist, I assume you're no linguist either, we aren't linguists, so let's go to what matters: how na-adjectives work in practice. 
<h3 id="attributive-form">
Attributive Form</h3>
Let's start with the attributive form, which is the form that gives na-adjectives their name: na-adjectives, because of the na they get when they're put into the attributive form. 
 
Like all adjectives in Japanese, na-adjectives are pre-nominal: they come before nouns. See: 
<ul>
<li>kawaii neko 可愛い猫 
 Cute cat. 
(this is an i-adjective.)</li>
<li>yuumei na neko 有名な猫 
 Famous cat. 
(now this is a na-adjective.)</li>
</ul>
 
You may have noticed that kawaii 可愛い, "cute," has the i い , while yuumei 有名, "famous," has no okurigana, is written entirely with , and separately gets the na な particle. 
 
This might mislead you into thinking the difference between i-adjectives and na-adjectives is that one has okurigana and the other doesn't. That isn't true; na-adjectives can have okurigana too: 
<ul>
<li>shizuka 静か 
Quiet.</li>
<li>shizuka na neko 静かな猫 
Quiet cat.</li>
</ul>
 
Worse yet, they can even have i い as okurigana: 
<ul>
<li>kirai na neko 嫌いな猫 
Despised cat. Hated cat. Disliked cat. 
A cat [I] hate.</li>
</ul>
 
In the case above, with the word kirai 嫌い, there's a reason for this: kirai 嫌い is the connective form, ren'youkei 連用形, of the less common verb kirau 嫌う, "to hate." Similarly, suki 好き is the ren'youkei of the less common verb suku 好く, "to like." 
<ul>
<li>suki na neko 好きな猫 
Liked cat. 
A cat [I] like.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="predicative-form">
Predicative Form</h3>
Next we have the predicative form. In Japanese, the ga が particle marks the subject of a sentence, and everything that's not the subject is the predicate. See: 
<ul>
<li>neko ga yuumei 猫が有名 
Cats [are] famous. 
The cat [is] famous.</li>
</ul>
 
As always, the casual copula da だ and the polite copula desu です are optional, and pretty much don't change the meaning, just add nuance. 
<ul>
<li>neko ga yuumei da 猫が有名だ 
neko ga yuumei desu 猫が有名です 
Cats are famous. 
The cat is famous.</li>
</ul>
 
Furthermore, Japanese prefers to talk about the topic, with the topic marker particle wa は, rather than to talk about what the subject is or is doing. And both subject and topic can be implicit from context. For example: 
<ul>
<li>suki da 好きだ 
<a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/08/it-pronoun.html">[It]</a> is liked. (literally.) 
[I like it.] (how you'd translate it to English.)</li>
<li>neko wa suki da 猫は好きだ 
As for cats, it is liked. (literally.)</li>
<li>The above can mean two different things depending on context:</li>
</ul><ol>
<li>To someone, dogs or other animals are not liked, but cats are liked. 
That is, he might not like dogs, but he does like cats.</li>
<li>Something isn't liked by dogs or other animals, but to cats, it's liked. 
That is, dogs might not like it, but cats do like it.</li>
</ol>

Now, you may have noticed there's a huge, immense, immeasurable difference between the attributive form and the predicative form of na-adjectives. 
 
THERE IS NO NA IN THE PREDICATIVE FOOOORMMMMmmm!!1111 
 
Like WHAT?! It's a na-adjective! It's an adjective with a na! How can... how can there possibly be a na-adjective without a na? That's literally the thing that makes na-adjetives na-adjectives! Without a na na-adjectives are just plain na-less adjectives! WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!?!?!? 
 
But yeah, that's right. You don't add the na な particle after na-adjectives in the predicative form. If you do add it, it won't be the same particle. It'll be a different na particle that you put at the end of phrases to say "isn't it?" 
<ul>
<li>neko ga yuumei na? 猫が有名な？ 
Cats [are] famous, [aren't they]?</li>
</ul>
 
To make sense of this, of why na adjectives don't have na in the predicative form, we'll have to understand why do we need the na な particle in the attributive form in first place. 
<h3 id="attributive-copula">
Attributive Copula Na な</h3>
The na of na-adjectives is actually a copula. The prenominal copula, or attributive copula. 
 
Basically, da だ is the copula you use in an independent clause, while na な is the copula you use in an attributive clause, also called adjectival clause. A clause that describes nouns. 
 
(sometimes these are called "relative clauses," but a relative clause can also be adverbial instead of adjectival, so I'll avoid this term.) 
 
To have a better idea: 
<ul>
<li>neko ga yuumei da 猫が有名だ 
Cats are famous.</li>
<li>yuumei na neko 有名な猫 
Famous cats.</li>
</ul>
 
It's boils down to na な being the attributive equivalent of da だ. 
<ul>
<li>If you can say: 
Noun ga something da.</li>
<li>Then you can say: 
Something na noun.</li>
</ul>
 
So that's where na-adjectives come from, and it's why na-adjectives look like they can be basically any kind of word. Anything you can put a da on you can put a na on, at least grammatically speaking. 
 
For example: 
<ul>
<li>jouhou ga tashika da 情報が確かだ 
The information is correct.</li>
<li>tashika na jouhou 確かな情報 
Correct information. 
Information that is correct.</li>
<li>kuni ga heiwa da 国が平和だ 
The country is peaceful.</li>
<li>heiwa na kuni 平和な国 
Peaceful country. 
A country that is peaceful.</li>
<li>yarikata ga samazama da やり方が様々だ 
Ways to do [it] are various.</li>
<li>samazama na yarikata 様々なやり方 
Various ways to do [it].</li>
</ul>
 
Although grammatically speaking it's always correct, that doesn't mean it's always natural, makes sense, or is something you'd ever say. For example: 
<ul>
<li>kimyou na bouken 奇妙な冒険 
Bizarre adventure. 
An adventure that is bizarre. 
(you'd say this.)</li>
<li>bouken ga kimyou da 冒険が奇妙だ 
Adventure is bizarre. 
(you wouldn't say this.)</li>
</ul>
 
Conversely, some stuff you'd think doesn't make sense actually makes sense in Japanese. Like putting na-adjectives before <a></a> 
<ul>
<li>boku ga tensai da 僕が天才だ 
I am a genius.</li>
<li>tensai na boku 天才な僕 
Genius... I? Genius me? 
The me that is a genius?</li>
<li>watashi ga <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/08/dame-meaning.html">dame</a> da 私がダメだ 
I am useless.</li>
<li>Dame na Watashi ni Koishite Kudasai ダメな私に恋してください 
Please Love the Useless Me.</li>
<ul>
<li>Title of a romance manga.</li>
</ul>
<li>kono machi ga daisuki da この街が大好きだ 
This town is very much liked. (literally.) 
[I love] this town.</li>
<li>daisuki na kono machi 大好きなこの街 
Very much liked this town. 
This town that [I love].</li>
<ul>
<li>By the way, daisuki na kono machi de 大好きなこの街で, "in this city I love," is a song. [<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AexYiuHuAhE">Colorful Palette - youtube.com</a>, 2018-11-03]</li>
</ul>
</ul>
 
Even more, transforming the predicative da into an attributive na isn't restricted to single words. You can turn a whole predicate into an adjective. 
<ul>
<li>kimi wa warui hito ga suki da 君は悪い人が好きだ 
About you: bad people are liked. (very literally.) 
You [like] bad people.</li>
<li>Warui Hito ga Suki na Kimi e 悪い人が好きな君へ 
To the you who [likes] bad people.</li>
<ul>
<li>Title of a song. [<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sR9HY567rE">必殺エモモモモ!!「悪い人が好きな君へ」MV full - youtube.com</a>, 2018-11-03]</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<h3 id="na-copula-restrictions">
What We Can't Turn Into a Na-Adjective?</h3>
As you've seen above, you can add a na particle to basically anything, which means, in practice, that you can turn basically anything into a na-adjective. But is there something we can't turn into a na-adjective? 
 
I mean, if you check a dictionary, you'll see that a lot of words are tagged as "na-adjectives." Those are words that are often used as na-adjectives. Some of them are literally adjectives, but some of them are nouns, others are adverbs, because, again, you can make anything into a na-adjective. 
 
For example, the word for "cat," neko 猫, is totally not a na-adjective. It's a noun, clearly. But you can turn it into a na-adjective nonetheless if you have a situation specific enough. For example, say you are a cat. 
<ul>
<li>watashi wa neko da 私は猫だ 
I'm a cat.</li>
<li>neko na watashi 猫な私 
The me that is a cat.</li>
</ul>
 
So you can turn even neko into a na-adjective. Except that doesn't happen normally, so a dictionary won't waste its time saying every word out there may technically be a na-adjective. 
 
But is there anything we grammatically can't turn into a na-adjective? Yes. There is. 
 
The pattern that has followed us so far is: if you can add a da to it, you can add a na to it. Therefore, if you can't add a da to it, you can't add a na to it. 
 
For example, you can't add a da to an i-adjective, at least not directly. To add the da, you need the nominalizing no の particle or its n ん contraction between the two. 
<ul>
<li>neko ga kawaii da 猫が可愛いだ 
(wrong.)</li>
<li>neko ga kawaii-n-da 猫が可愛いんだ 
neko ga kawaii no da 猫が可愛いのだ 
Cats are cute.</li>
</ul>
 
Similarly, you can't put a da after a verb. You need the nominalizing no particle in this case too. 
<ul>
<li>sakana ga oyogu da 魚が泳ぐだ 
(wrong.)</li>
<li>sakana ga oyogu-n-da 魚が泳ぐんだ 
sakana ga oyogu no da 魚が泳ぐのだ 
Fishes swim.</li>
</ul>
 
The phrases above, despite having da, can't be converted to attributive na. You can't say no na のな. This is because you don't need those particles to begin with. You can put verbs and i-adjectives directly before nouns without the need of the na particle, and they'll qualify that noun just fine. 
<ul>
<li>kawaii no na neko 可愛いのな猫 
(wrong.)</li>
<li>kawaii neko 可愛い猫 
Cute cat.</li>
<li>oyogu no na sakana 泳ぐのな魚 
(wrong.)</li>
<li>oyogu saka 泳ぐ魚 
Fish that swims. [Swimming] fish.</li>
</ul>
 
Also note that if you put a na な after a verb, at the end of a sentence, it's a different na な that means "don't!" instead and has nothing to do with adjectives. 
<ul>
<li>oyogu na! 泳ぐな！ 
Don't swim!</li>
</ul>
 
Furthermore, although you can technically turn any noun into a na-adjective, usually nouns become no-adjectives instead. That is, they get the no の particle, not the na な particle. 
<ul>
<li>neko na watashi 猫な私 
The me that is a cat. (technically correct version you wouldn't use.)</li>
<li>neko no watashi 猫の私 
The me that is a cat. (version you'd normally use.)</li>
</ul>
 
Beware that a lot of words are listed in dictionaries as both nouns and na-adjectives, so sometimes they take na, other times they take no. For example: 
<ul>
<li>ninki na manga 人気な漫画 
Popular manga.</li>
<li>ninki no geemu 人気のゲーム 
Popular game.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="negative-form">
Negative Form</h3>
The negative form of na-adjectives is literally just replacing the normal copula by a negative copula such as denai でない, dewanai ではない or its contraction, janai じゃない. 
<ul>
<li>kiken na ninmu 危険な任務 
Dangerous mission. 
Mission that is dangerous.</li>
<li>kiken denai ninmu 危険でない任務 
kiken dewanai ninmu 危険ではない任務 
kiken janai ninmu 危険じゃない任務 
Not dangerous mission. 
Mission that is not dangerous.</li>
</ul>
 
In modern Japanese, when the adjective is attributive like above, you'd use denai でない, and when the adjective is predicative like below, you'd use dewanai ではない or janai じゃない. 
<ul>
<li>kono ninmu ga kiken da この任務が危険だ 
This mission is dangerous.</li>
<li>kono ninmu ga kiken janai この任務が危険じゃない 
This mission is not dangerous.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="denai-vs-dewanai">
でない vs. ではない</h4>
The word janai, or rather, dewanai ではない, is the combination of the particle de で, the particle wa は, and the auxiliary adjective nai ない. 
 
The difference between denai and dewanai is obviously this wa は particle. It has a contrastive function. Basically, it means "I don't know about other cases, but this specific case is [something]." 
 
Since we also got a negative nai ない there, it means "this specific case is not [something]." 
 
In the predicative, this "this specific case" nuance is important because you're saying "this thing I'm talking about is specifically not true." Another way to understand this is assuming that janai and dewanai deny the whole phrase, rather than just the adjective. 
 
In the attributive, however, that nuance is often unnecessary, which's why denai is normally used in the attributive while dewanai is used in the predicative. 
<ul>
<li>ninmu ga kiken dewanai 任務が危険ではない 
The mission, dangerous, it is not. (it could be something else, though.) 
It is not a dangerous mission. (it's something else.)</li>
<li>kiken dewanai ninmu 危険ではない任務 
A mission that, dangerous, it is not. (but could be something else.) 
A mission that's not dangerous. (it's something else, but not dangerous.)</li>
<li>kiken denai ninmu 危険でない任務 
A non-dangerous mission. (since this doesn't have a wa, it doesn't emphasize contrast.)</li>
</ul>
 
If the phrase is simple enough, it makes more sense to use a simple na-adjective in the attributive with a negative copula denying the whole phrase (janai, dewanai). You'd only use denai if your noun phrase (kiken denai ninmu) is part of the bigger phrase. 
<ul>
<li>{kiken na ninmu} dewanai 危険な任務ではない 
{kiken na ninmu} janai 危険な任務じゃない 
It's not {a dangerous mission.} (it's something else, a safe mission, presumably.)</li>
<li>{kiken denai ninmu} nante nai-n-da 危険でない任務なんてないんだ 
There's no such thing as a {non-dangerous mission}.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="other-negative-forms">
Past Negative, Adverbial Negative, Etc.</h4>
As always, the <a></a>i-adjective. 
<ul>
<li>denakatta でなかった 
dewanakatta ではなかった 
Past negative.</li>
<li>denaku でなく 
dewanaku ではなく 
Adverbial negative.</li>
<li>denakute でなくて 
dewanakute ではなくて 
Te-form.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="past-form">
Past Form</h3>
The past form of na-adjectives is literally just placing the normal copula by a past copula such as datta だった. 
<ul>
<li>heiwa na kuni 平和な国 
Peaceful country.</li>
<li>heiwa datta kuni 平和だった国 
Was peaceful country. 
Country that was peaceful.</li>
</ul>
 
Again, you can put datta instead of na in the attributive because you can but datta instead of da in the predicative. 
<ul>
<li>kono kuni ga heiwa da この国が平和だ 
This country is peaceful.</li>
<li>kono kuni ga heiwa datta この国が平和だった 
This country was peaceful.</li>
</ul>
 
If you're just saying something was adjective, it makes more sense to use an attributive adjective in the non-past (with na) and add a predicative copula in the past at the end of the sentence. 
<ul>
<li>heiwa na kuni datta 平和な国だった 
[It] was a peaceful country.</li>
</ul>
 
So you'd only use datta in the attributive if it's a more complicated phrase. 
<ul>
<li>heiwa datta kuni wo sensou ni makikomu 平和だった国を戦争に巻き込む 
To drag into war the country that was peaceful. 
To drag into war an [once] peaceful country.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="te-form">
Te-Form</h3>
The te-form of na-adjectives is literally just replacing the normal copula by the de で part... wait, no, by the de で that's actually the te-form of the copulative verb da!!! 
 
That's right. As extremely confusing as it sounds, and is, there are two de's in Japanese: the de で particle that creates adverbs, and the de で that's the te-form of the copula da だ. 
 
(more confusingly yet, they're etymologically the same thing since da is the abbreviation of de aru である, but let's ignore this for the sake of our sanity.) 
 
Let's begin with the de that's the te-form of da. 
 
As explained in the article about i-adjectives, adjectives can be connected to other adjectives through their te-forms. The te-form of i-adjectives is <a></a> 
<ul>
<li>kirei na hito 綺麗な人 
Pretty person.</li>
<li>yasashii hito 優しい人 
Kind person. 
Gentle person.</li>
<li>yasashikute kirei na hito 優しくて綺麗な人 
A person that is kind and pretty.</li>
</ul>
 
The last adjective of a te-form chain shouldn't be in the te-form but in the attributive form, -i ～い ending for i-adjectives, na copula for na-adjectives. 
 
For example, above the na-adjective kirei was the last adjective before the noun hito, that's why it was kirei na. If we switch the adjectives' positions, the adverbial yasashikute will return to its attributive form yasashii, while kirei na will become kirei de: 
<ul>
<li>kirei de yasashii hito 綺麗で優しい人 
A person that is pretty and kind.</li>
</ul>
 
In the predicative you don't need the na, just like it would be without two adjectives connected by te-form. 
<ul>
<li>kanojo ga kirei de yasashii 彼女が綺麗で優しい 
kanojo ga kirei de yasashii-n-da 彼女が綺麗で優しいんだ 
She is pretty and kind.</li>
<li>kanojo ga yasashikute kirei 彼女が優しくて綺麗 
kanojo ga yasashikute kirei da 彼女が優しくて綺麗だ 
She is kind and pretty.</li>
</ul>
 
Although there's no hard rule regarding the order of the adjectives, it's sometimes implied the first adjective may cause the second. So there are things you'd say in one order you wouldn't say in another order. 
<ul>
<li>shoshinsha de heta na watashi 初心者で下手な私 
The me that is a beginner and unskilled.</li>
<ul>
<li>That is: because I'm a beginner, I'm also unskilled.</li>
</ul>
<li>heta de shoshinsha na watashi 下手で初心者な私 
The me that is unskilled and a beginner.</li>
<ul>
<li>That is: because I'm unskilled, I'm also a beginner.</li>
<li>This doesn't make as much sense as the one above, so you probably wouldn't say it like this.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
 
For reference, an example of the de で particle that's not the te-form of the copula: 
<ul>
<li>geemu de asobu ゲームで遊ぶ 
To play by game. 
To play with a video-game.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="adverbial-form">
Adverbial Form</h3>
The adverbial form of na-adjectives is literally just replacing the normal copula by the ni に particle, which some scholars analyze as the "adverbial copula." So, to recap: 
<ul>
<li>Predicative copula da だ</li>
<ul>
<li>kono machi ga shizuka da この街が静かだ 
This town is quiet.</li>
</ul>
<li>Attributive copula na な</li>
<ul>
<li>shizuka na machi 静かな街 
Quiet town.</li>
</ul>
<li>Adverbial copula ni に</li>
<ul>
<li>shizuka ni nemuru 静かに眠る 
To quietly sleep.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
 
As you can see, despite the scary "adverbial copula" term, this is all pretty easy. It's basically -ly in English. 
<ul>
<li>hontou na shi 本当な死 
Real death.</li>
<li>hontou ni shinda 本当に死んだ 
Really died.</li>
<li>seikaku na kotae 正確な答え 
Correct answer.</li>
<li>seikaku ni kotaeru 正確に答える 
To correctly answer. 
To answer correctly.</li>
</ul>
 
The only problem is that there's a lot of disparity between English and Japanese, so the literal translation may not sound natural, or even doesn't express the same message it does in Japanese. 
 
This results in a na-adjective having different translation when it's used as an adjective versus when it's used as an adverb. For example: 
<ul>
<li>massugu na seikaku まっすぐな性格 
A "straight" personality. (straight as in "right," "direct.") 
A [honest] character. (someone of honest character doesn't lie.)</li>
<li>massugu ni arukenai まっすぐに歩けない 
 Straightly walk able not. (negative potential of aruku 歩く) 
Can't walk straight.</li>
<li>tokubetsu na oshie 特別な教え 
A special teaching.</li>
<li>tokubetsu ni oshiete ageru 特別に教えてあげる 
To teach [you] specially. To tell [you] specially. 
[I'll do you a favor and] tell [you.] 
[I'll] tell [you only because it's you.]</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="adverbial-copula">
Adverbial Copula Ni に</h3>
The term "adverbial copula," abbreviated in books as COP-ADV, might elude you a bit. And by a bit I mean a lot. After all it's two terms that sound too complicated. So, here, I'll try to explain what an adverbial copula is. 
 
First off, a copula is also called a copulative verb. If it's called a copulative verb, then, naturally, a copula is a verb. And if it's a verb, you can assume it works like just any other verb. 
 
Except it doesn't. 
 
At least not in Japanese. 
 
To understand why, let's see an example of a normal verb in action: 
<ul>
<li>shiro ga ugoku 城が動く 
The castle moves.</li>
<li>ugoku shiro 動く城 
The castle that moves.</li>
</ul>
 
Above we have the verb ugoku, "to move." In the first example, it's the verb of a simple clause. In the second example, it's the verb of a subordinate adjectival clause. That is, a separate clause, "that moves," serving as adjective, describing the "castle" noun. 
 
In English, we often use subordinating prepositions like "that" and "who" to introduce these clauses. Japanese doesn't have those, so the verb comes right before the noun. Because of this, it might look like there isn't a separate clause there, but there is: 
<ul>
<li>{ugoku} shiro ga ugoku 動く城が動く 
The castle {that moves} moves.</li>
<ul>
<li>In bold: main clause.</li>
<li>In curly brackets: subordinate adjectival clause.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
 
(by the way, particles can be called postpositions, since they come after stuff, oppositely to prepositions, that come before stuff.) 
 
Now, the thing about clauses is that you can only have one verb per clause. And a copula is a verb. So every time there's a copula, there's a clause, just like above. 
 
And yet, we can't do this: 
<ul>
<li>kuni ga heiwa da 国が平和だ 
The country is peaceful.</li>
<li>heiwa da kuni 平和だ国 
The country that is peaceful. (wrong!!!)</li>
</ul>
 
That's because these pesky Japanese copulas are different from the regular Japanese verbs. 
 
A regular verb doesn't care if it's in the main clause or in a subordinate clause. The ugoku above remained ugoku in both cases. But copulas care. The Japanese copula must match the type of clause they're verb for. 
<ul>
<li>heiwa da 平和だ 
This is a independent clause.</li>
<li>heiwa na 平和な 
This is an adjectival clause, also called attributive clause.</li>
<li>heiwa ni 平和に 
This is an adverbial clause.</li>
</ul>
 
So that's why it's an "adverbial copula." 
 
This is a bit hard to get because of the implication: it implies your average Japanese sentence has way more clauses than you'd expect. For example: 
<ul>
<li>{{shizuka na} neko ga {shizuka ni} nemuru no} da 静かな猫が静かに眠るのだ 
The quiet cat sleeps quietly.</li>
</ul>
 
The English translation "the quiet cat sleeps quietly" has just one clause. After all, "quiet" is an adjective, "quietly" is an adverb, and they don't need clauses. The only verb we got is "sleeps," and since it's only one verb, we only have one clause. 
 
By contrast, shizuka na neko ga shizuka ni nemuru no da has the verb nemuru plus three copulas, na, ni, and da. Since each copula is a verb, that means we have four verbs in total, which means four clauses. That's a lot of clauses. 
 
If we were to translate to English keeping the same number of clauses, we'd have to say some monstrosity like this: 
<ul>
<li>{The cat {that is quiet} sleeps in a way {that is quiet}}, it is. 
Is, sleeps, is, is. Four clauses.</li>
</ul>
 
Maybe because it's so clausy and na-adjectives end up becoming mere single-word clauses anyway, some grammars prefer to analyze them not as clauses with a na copula that can be inflected, but as adjectives with a na suffix that can be inflected. 
 
(as you may have realized, this article is based on the clause analysis, not the suffix analysis. Because I just found out about it so it's more interesting to me.) 
 
Now, remember that in Japanese na-adjectives are called "adjectival verbs," keiyou-doushi 形容動詞? 
 
If they're verbs they need their own clauses. Since some grammars disagree with na introducing a new clause every time, they couldn't call them "verbs." That's probably why in English the term "adjectival noun" exists to to refer to them instead. 
<h3 id="ni-naru-form">
Ni Naru になる</h3>
The construction ni naru になる is the verb naru なる, "to become," preceded by the adverbial copula ni に. Basically, X-ni-naru means "to become X." 
 
Now, this is an interesting construction because it validates a lot of this copula stuff. 
 
Like I said before, you can make (mostly) everything a na-adjective. Because na is a copula, so anything that can take da can take na. And the adverbial form of na-adjectives replaces the adjectival copula na by the adverbial copula ni. 
 
So when we say: 
<ul>
<li>heiwa ni naru 平和になる 
To become peaceful.</li>
</ul>
 
We're actually saying: 
<ul>
<li>heiwa ni naru 平和になる 
To peaceful-ly become. 
To become in a way {that is peaceful.}</li>
</ul>
 
This might sound weird to you if you already know that the ni に particle can be used to mark the indirect object of a phrase, like this: 
<ul>
<li>kimi ni ninjutsu wo oshieru 君に忍術を教える 
To teach ninja-arts to you.</li>
</ul>
 
And like always you can be very implicit in Japanese, so you don't need to explicitly say the direct object if it's implied by context: 
<ul>
<li>kimi ni oshieru 君に教える 
To teach [something implicit] to you.</li>
</ul>
 
So you might look at this noun-ni-verb construction and conclude that noun-ni-naru is the same thing. That naru is a verb that takes an indirect object marked by the ni particle, just like oshieru above. 
<ul>
<li>neko ni naru 猫になる 
To become a cat.</li>
<ul>
<li>A cat - indirect object???</li>
</ul>
</ul>
 
 
BUT THAT IS WRONG!!! 
 
The ni of ni naru is not the indirect object marker!!! 
 
It's the adverbial copula!!!!111 
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/11/bakana-meaning.html">sonna baka na!</a> そんなバカな！ 
no wai — you, probably.</li>
</ul>
 
But yes, wai. And there's an easy way to confirm this is actually true and I'm not making stuff up: when we have an i-adjective, the construction is not ni naru, it's <a></a>-ku is the <a></a> 
<ul>
<li>takai 高い 
High. 
Expensive.</li>
<li>takaku tobu 高く飛う 
To jump high.</li>
<li>takaku naru 高くなる 
To become high. 
To become expensive.</li>
</ul>
 
So, if with i-adjectives the verb naru is modified by the adverbial form, then, with na-adjectives, the verb naru must be modified by the adverbial form also! 
<ul>
<li>takaku naru 高くなる 
To become in a way {that is expensive.}</li>
<li>neko ni naru 猫になる 
To become in a way {that is a cat.}</li>
</ul>
 
This can also be observed in the fact that anything you can say ending in a da copula you can say ending in ni naru, because ni is simply the adverbial variant of the da copula. 
<ul>
<li>anime ga suki da アニメが好きだ 
Anime is liked. (literally.) 
[I like] anime.</li>
<li>anime ga suki ni naru アニメが好きになる 
To become in a way {that anime is liked.} 
To start liking anime.</li>
<li>{{anime ga suki ni} natta} kikkake アニメが好きになったきかっけ 
The motive {to have become in a way {that anime is liked.}} 
The reason why [I] started liking anime.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="suffixes-that-are-na-adjective">
Suffixes That Are Na-Adjectives</h3>
An important thing about na-adjectives are certain suffixes that are na-adjectives. Because they're awfully versatile and a mess to understand. 
 
Such are words like you よう and sou そう. They always come after a phrase that describes them, and are used as adjectives or adverbs for other stuff. 
<h4 id="you-da-you-na-you-ni">
You da, You na, You ni</h4>
Let's start understand you よう. 
<ul>
<li>tada no shikabane ただのしかばね 
Just a corpse.</li>
<li>tada no shikabane no you da ただのしかばねのようだ 
[It] is the appearance of just a corpse. (literally.) 
[It seems to be] just a corpse.</li>
</ul>
 
As you can see above, you よう means literally "appearance." And it's always described by something that comes before it. It never shows up alone in a phrase. In English, this phrase becomes translated to "seems to be," "appears to be," "like," etc. 
 
Since it's a na-adjective, you can have an attributive you na and an adverbial you ni too: 
<ul>
<li>shikabane no you na hito しかばねのような人 
A person that [seems to be] a corpse. 
A person [like] a corpse.</li>
<li>shikabane no you ni ikiru しかばねのように生きる 
Living [like] a corpse.</li>
</ul>
 
By the way, the pronouns <a></a><a></a><a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/10/kono-sono-ano-dono-meaning.html">dono</a> you na. However, they do not work like na-adjectives, and you can't say konni to say kono you ni. 
<h4 id="sou-da-sou-na-sou-ni">
Sou da, Sou na, Sou ni</h4>
The sou そう suffix works the same way, except it implies something "might be" something because it "looks like" something. For example: 
<ul>
<li>oishii 美味しい 
Tasty.</li>
<li>oishisou da 美味しそうだ 
[It] looks like it's tasty 
(we aren't sure if it really is, it just looks like it is.)</li>
<li>oishisou na banana 美味しそうなバナナ 
A tasty-looking banana.</li>
<li>oishisou ni taberu 美味しそうに食べる. 
To eat in a way {that is tasty-looking.)</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="teki-da-teki-na-teki-ni">
Teki da, Teki na, Teki ni</h4>
Another common na-adjective suffix is teki 的. 
<ul>
<li>rekishi 歴史 
History.</li>
<li>rekishi-teki 歴史的 
Historical.</li>
<li>kore wa rekishi-teki da これは歴史的だ 
This is historical. (a historical event, for example.)</li>
<li>rekishi-teki na shashin 歴史的な写真 
A historical photo.</li>
<li>rekishi-teki ni yuumei na hito 歴史的に有名な人 
A person who is historically famous.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="origins">
Origins</h2>
Lastly, one thing that's not really useful but it's cool to know is the origin of na-adjectives. 
 
The na copula of na adjectives comes from the construction ni aru にある. This is similar to how the da copula comes from de aru である. 
<ol>
<li>heiwa ni aru kuni 平和にある国 
(say this fast)</li>
<li>heiwa naru kuni 平和なる国 
(drop the ru)</li>
<li>heiwa na kuni 平和な国 
Peaceful country.</li>
</ol>
 
The aru ある of ni aru and de aru is the verb for "to exist," aru 在る. 
 
In modern Japanese, de aru である has been analyzed as a predicative copula de で plus a dummy copula aru ある. [<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20100764">Adjectives and the Copulas in Japanese</a>, by Kunio Nishiyama, published in 1999] 
 
In other words, this aru isn't a verb with the meaning of "to exist" anymore, it's only there to serve a syntactical purpose, to do something related to the Japanese grammar syntax. 
 
That is, you can't inflect the de directly like other u-ending verbs or i-ending adjectives, but you can inflect aru to past form, te-form, etc. So the inflection of the dummy aru serves as the inflection of the copula for grammatical purposes. 
<ul>
<li>heiwa de aru 平和である 
heiwa da 平和だ 
heiwa de arimasu 平和であります 
heiwa desu 平和です 
To exist in peace. (wrong!) 
To be in peace. (right.)</li>
<li>heiwa de atta 平和であった 
heiwa datta 平和だった 
heiwa dearimashita 平和でありました 
heiwa deshita 平和でした 
Existed in peace. (wrong!) 
Was in peace. (right.)</li>
</ul>
 
Besides ni aru and de aru, there was also a third construction, to aru とある. 
 
Some adverbs in Japanese take the to と particle. By adding aru ある, it turns those adverbs into adjectives. 
 
So, to aru and ni aru adjectives became taru adjectives and naru adjectives, and then naru adjectives became na adjectives. 
 
And you can actually add taru and naru to such words and conjugate that. It's the so-called tari-katsuyou タリ活用 and nari-katsuyou ナリ活用. 
<ul>
<li>doudou to furumau 堂々と振る舞う 
To behave majestically.</li>
<li>doudou toaru sugata 堂々とある姿 
doudou taru sugata 堂々たる姿 
Majestic form. Majestic appearance.</li>
<li>shizuka naru Don 静かなるドン 
The Don that is quiet.</li>
<ul>
<li>Title of a manga.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
 
In modern Japanese, this taru たる is considered to be overly polite (since it's usually found in classical Japanese.) 
 
You can still find taru in some manga, but then the meaning is closer to "[something] which's supposed to be [something]" rather than "[something] which is [something]." 
 

Manga: "Black Butler," Kuroshitsuji 黒執事
<ul>
<li>Fantomuhaibu-ke no 
shitsuji taru mono 
ファントムハイブ家の執事たるもの 
[Someone] who's supposed to be the butler of the Phantomhive's family...</li>
<ul>
<li>mono もの 
A person. 
[Someone who...] (when qualified by an adjective.) 
(note about <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/homonyms-in-japanese.html">homonyms</a>: mono 者 is person, mono 物 is thing.)</li>
</ul>
<li>kono teido no waza ga 
tsukaenakute 
この程度の技が　使えなくて 
...not able to use a technique of this level...</li>
<ul>
<li>tsukaenakute 使えなくて 
(te-form of)</li>
<li>tsukaenai 使えない 
Not able to use. 
(negative form of)</li>
<li>tsukaeru 使える 
Able to use. 
(potential form of)</li>
<li>tsukau 使う 
To use.</li>
</ul>
<li>doushimasu 
どうします 
....does what? (this is an expression.)</li>
<ul>
<li>(potential negative) + 
dou suru どうする 
If you aren't able to [something] what are you going to do?</li>
<li>This is a rhetorical question. It implies that being able to [something] is natural, and if you can't, there's something fundamentally wrong.</li>
<li>If a surgeon can't operate, what is he going do? Answer: nothing. He isn't a surgeon then!</li>
<li>If someone who's supposed to be a Phantomhive's butler can't even use a technique of this level, what is he going to do? Nothing! He isn't a Phantonhive's butler then!</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul></ul>

In Japanese,-adjectives are words that are usually turned into attributive adjectives by adding aな after them. Some-adjectives are always classified as adjectives, but others can be classified as nouns or adverbs when they don't have theThe term for "-adjective" in Japanese isナ形容詞, abbreviatedナ形. They're also confusingly called "adjectival nouns" in English and "adjectival verbs" in Japanese,形容動詞, abbreviated形動.Before starting the real article, allow me to offer a summarized version of how-adjectives work. If you don't understand something written in this section, rest assured it's explained in excruciating detail in the grammar section below.Theparticle that comes afteradjectives is the attributive copulaな. Besides it, there's the predicative copulaだ. The adverbial copulaに. And the-form of thecopula, which'sで.Anything that's related to-adjectives is just switching one copula for another copula.And there's more:-adjectives are considered to be adjectives, so they can't fit the role of a noun grammatically. However, the copulascan be used with nouns and noun phrases that aren't classified as-adjectives.That means, for example, that you can say猫な人, "a person who," even thoughisn't classified as a-adjective. A lot of the grammar valid for-adjectives is also valid for nouns and noun phrases.Since-adjectives are just words with aaddedthem, there's no way to conjugate or inflect the-adjective itself, like you'd be able to do with the true adjectives, the <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/10/i-adjectives.html">i-adjectives</a> , mostly everything you can do with an-adjective you can do with a-adjective, except not through inflection, through changing theparticle for something else instead.For reference,-adjective equivalents of-adjective inflections:For reference, a chart with-adjective inflections.The grammar behind-adjectives is 300% reliant on the <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/08/desu-deshita-janai-meaning.html">Japanese copula, desu です</a> , or rather, on the Japanese, like, more than one of them.There's even a book that talks only about them: <a href="https://amzn.to/2SJfMzY" rel="nofollow">The Japanese Copula: Forms and Functions</a> But it's made for linguists, and I'm no linguist, I assume you're no linguist either, we aren't linguists, so let's go to what matters: how-adjectives work in practice.Let's start with the attributive form, which is the form that gives-adjectives their name:-adjectives, because of thethey get when they're put into the attributive form.Like all adjectives in Japanese,-adjectives are: they come. See:You may have noticed that可愛い, "cute," has the, while有名, "famous," has no, is written entirely with, and separately gets theな particle.This might mislead you into thinking the difference between-adjectives and-adjectives is that one hasand the other doesn't. That isn't true;-adjectives can havetoo:Worse yet, they can even haveい asIn the case above, with the word嫌い, there's a reason for this:嫌い is the connective form,連用形, of the less common verb嫌う, "to hate." Similarly,好き is theof the less common verb好く, "to like."Next we have the predicative form. In Japanese, theが particle marks the subject of a sentence, and everything that's not the subject is the predicate. See:As always, the casual copulaだ and the polite copulaです are optional, and pretty much don't change the meaning, just add nuance.Furthermore, Japanese prefers to talk about the topic, with the topic marker particleは, rather than to talk about what the subject is or is doing. And both subject and topic can be implicit from context. For example:Now, you may have noticed there's a huge, immense, immeasurable difference between the attributive form and the predicative form of-adjectives.THERE IS NOIN THE PREDICATIVE FOOOORMMMMmmm!!1111Like WHAT?! It's a-adjective! It's an adjective with a! How can... how can there possibly be a-adjective without a? That's literally the thing that makes-adjetives-adjectives! Without a-adjectives are just plain-less adjectives! WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!?!?!?But yeah, that's right. You don't add theな particle after-adjectives in the predicative form. If you do add it, it won't be the same particle. It'll be a differentparticle that you put at the end of phrases to say "isn't it?"To make sense of this, of whyadjectives don't havein the predicative form, we'll have to understand why do we need theな particle in the attributive form in first place.Theof-adjectives is actually. Thecopula, orcopula.Basically,だ is the copula you use in an independent clause, whileな is the copula you use in an attributive clause, also called adjectival clause. A clause that describes nouns.(sometimes these are called "relative clauses," but a relative clause can also be adverbial instead of adjectival, so I'll avoid this term.)To have a better idea:It's boils down toな being the attributive equivalent ofだ.So that's where-adjectives come from, and it's why-adjectives look like they can be basically any kind of word. Anything you can put aon you can put aon, at least grammatically speaking.For example:Although grammatically speaking it's always correct, that doesn't mean it's always natural, makes sense, or is something you'd ever say. For example:Conversely, some stuff you'd think doesn't make sense actually makes sense. Like putting-adjectives before <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/japanese-pronouns.html">personal pronouns</a> Even more, transforming the predicativeinto an attributiveisn't restricted to single words. You can turn a whole predicate into an adjective.As you've seen above, you can add aparticle to basically anything, which means, in practice, that you can turn basically anything into a-adjective. But is there something we can't turn into a-adjective?I mean, if you check a dictionary, you'll see that a lot of words are tagged as "-adjectives." Those are words that areused as-adjectives. Some of them are literally adjectives, but some of them are nouns, others are adverbs, because, again, you can makeinto a-adjective.For example, the word for "cat,"猫, is totally not a-adjective. It's a noun, clearly. But you can turn it into a-adjective nonetheless if you have a situation specific enough. For example, say you are a cat.So you can turn eveninto a-adjective. Except that doesn't happen normally, so a dictionary won't waste its time saying every word out there may technically be a-adjective.But is there anything we grammatically can't turn into a-adjective? Yes. There is.The pattern that has followed us so far is: if you can add ato it, you can add ato it. Therefore, if you can't add ato it, you can't add ato it.For example, you can't add ato an-adjective, at least not directly. To add the, you need the nominalizingの particle or itsん contraction between the two.Similarly, you can't put aafter a verb. You need the nominalizingparticle in this case too.The phrases above, despite having, can't be converted to attributive. You can't sayのな. This is because you don't need those particles to begin with. You can put verbs and-adjectives directly before nouns without the need of theparticle, and they'll qualify that noun just fine.Also note that if you put aな after a verb, at the end of a sentence, it's a differentな that means "don't!" instead and has nothing to do with adjectives.Furthermore, although you can technically turn any noun into a-adjective, usually nouns become-adjectives instead. That is, they get theの particle, not theな particle.Beware that a lot of words are listed in dictionaries as both nouns and-adjectives, so sometimes they take, other times they take. For example:The negative form of-adjectives is literally just replacing the normal copula by a negative copula such asでない,ではない or its contraction,じゃない.In modern Japanese, when the adjective is attributive like above, you'd useでない, and when the adjective is predicative like below, you'd useではない orじゃない.The word, or rather,ではない, is the combination of the particleで, the particleは, and the auxiliary adjectiveない.The difference betweenandis obviously thisは particle. It has a contrastive function. Basically, it means "I don't know about other cases, but this specific case is [something]."Since we also got a negativeない there, it means "this specific case is[something]."In the predicative, this "this specific case" nuance is important because you're saying "this thing I'm talking about is specifically not true." Another way to understand this is assuming thatand, rather than just the adjective.In the attributive, however, that nuance is often unnecessary, which's whyis normally used in the attributive whileis used in the predicative.If the phrase is simple enough, it makes more sense to use a simple-adjective in the attributive with a negative copula denying the whole phrase (). You'd only useif your noun phrase () is part of the bigger phrase.As always, the <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/03/nai-meaning-japanese.html">nai ない auxiliary</a> can be inflected as an-adjective.The past form of-adjectives is literally just placing the normal copula by a past copula such asだった.Again, you can putinstead ofin the attributive because you can butinstead ofin the predicative.If you're just saying something was adjective, it makes more sense to use an attributive adjective in the non-past (with) and add a predicative copula in the past at the end of the sentence.So you'd only usein the attributive if it's a more complicated phrase.The-form of-adjectives is literally just replacing the normal copula by theで part... wait, no, by theで that's actually the-form of the copulative verb!!!That's right. As extremely confusing as it sounds, and is, there are two's in Japanese: theで particle that creates adverbs, and theで that's the-form of the copulaだ.(more confusingly yet, they're etymologically the same thing sinceis the abbreviation ofである, but let's ignore this for the sake of our sanity.)Let's begin with thethat's the-form ofAs explained in the article about-adjectives, adjectives can be connected to other adjectives through their-forms. The-form of-adjectives is <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/10/i-adjectives.html#te-form">-kute ～くて</a> The last adjective of a-form chain shouldn't be in the-form but in the attributive form,～い ending for-adjectives,copula for-adjectives.For example, above the-adjectivewas the last adjective before the noun, that's why it was. If we switch the adjectives' positions, the adverbialwill return to its attributive form, whilewill becomeIn the predicative you don't need the, just like it would be without two adjectives connected by-form.Although there's no hard rule regarding the order of the adjectives, it's sometimes implied the first adjective may cause the second. So there are things you'd say in one order you wouldn't say in another order.For reference, an example of theで particle that'sof the copula:The adverbial form of-adjectives is literally just replacing the normal copula by theに particle, which some scholars analyze as the "adverbial copula." So, to recap:As you can see, despite the scary "adverbial copula" term, this is all pretty easy. It's basically -ly in English.The only problem is that there's a lot of disparity between English and Japanese, so the literal translation may not sound natural, or even doesn't express the same message it does in Japanese.This results in a-adjective having different translation when it's used as an adjective versus when it's used as an adverb. For example:The term "adverbial copula," abbreviated in books as COP-ADV, might elude you a bit. And by a bit I mean a lot. After all it's two terms that sound too complicated. So, here, I'll try to explain what an adverbial copula is.First off, a copula is also called a copulative. If it's called a copulative verb, then, naturally, a copulaa verb. And if it's a verb, you can assume it works like just any other verb.Except it doesn't.At least not in Japanese.To understand why, let's see an example of a normal verb in action:Above we have the verb, "to move." In the first example, it's the verb of a simple clause. In the second example, it's the verb of a. That is, a separate clause, "that moves," serving as adjective, describing the "castle" noun.In English, we often use subordinating prepositions like "that" and "who" to introduce these clauses. Japanese doesn't have those, so the verb comes right before the noun. Because of this, it might look like there isn't a separate clause there, but there is:(by the way, particles can be called postpositions, since they come after stuff, oppositely to prepositions, that come before stuff.)Now, the thing about clauses is that you can only have. And a copula is a verb. So every time there's a copula, there's a clause, just like above.And yet, we can't do this:That's because these pesky Japanese copulas are different from the regular Japanese verbs.A regular verb doesn't care if it's in the main clause or in a subordinate clause. Theabove remainedin both cases. But copulas care. The Japanese copula must match the type of clause they're verb for.So that's why it's an "adverbial copula."This is a bit hard to get because of the implication: it implies your average Japanese sentence has way more clauses than you'd expect. For example:The English translation "the quiet cat sleeps quietly" has just one clause. After all, "quiet" is an adjective, "quietly" is an adverb, and they don't need clauses. The only verb we got is "sleeps," and since it's only one verb, we only have one clause.By contrast,has the verbplus three copulas,, and. Since each copula is a verb, that means we have four verbs in total, which meansclauses. That's a lot of clauses.If we were to translate to English keeping the same number of clauses, we'd have to say some monstrosity like this:Maybe because it's so clausy and-adjectives end up becoming mere single-word clauses anyway, some grammars prefer to analyze them not as clauses with acopula that can be inflected, but as adjectives with asuffix that can be inflected.(as you may have realized, this article is based on the clause analysis, not the suffix analysis. Because I just found out about it so it's more interesting to me.)Now, remember that in Japanese-adjectives are called "adjectival verbs,"形容動詞?If they're verbs they need their own clauses. Since some grammars disagree withintroducing a new clause every time, they couldn't call them "verbs." That's probably why in English the term "adjectival" exists to to refer to them instead.The constructionになる is the verbなる, "to become," preceded by the adverbial copulaに. Basically, Xmeans "to become X."Now, this is an interesting construction because it validates a lot of this copula stuff.Like I said before, you can make (mostly) everything a-adjective. Becauseis a copula, so anything that can takecan take. And the adverbial form of-adjectives replaces the adjectival copulaby the adverbial copulaSo when we say:We're actually saying:This might sound weird to you if you already know that theに particle can be used to mark the indirect object of a phrase, like this:And like always you can be very implicit in Japanese, so you don't need to explicitly say the direct object if it's implied by context:So you might look at this noun--verb construction and conclude that noun-is the same thing. Thatis a verb that takes an indirect object marked by theparticle, just likeabove.But yes, wai. And there's an easy way to confirm this is actually true and I'm not making stuff up: when we have an-adjective, the construction is not, it's <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/10/i-adjectives.html#ku-naru">-ku naru ～くなる</a> . Thisis the <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/10/i-adjectives.html#adverbial-form">adverbial form of i-adjectives</a> So, if with-adjectives the verbis modified by the adverbial form, then, with-adjectives, the verbmust be modified by the adverbial form also!This can also be observed in the fact that anything you can say ending in acopula you can say ending in, becauseis simply the adverbial variant of thecopula.An important thing about-adjectives are certain suffixes that are-adjectives. Because they're awfully versatile and a mess to understand.Such are words likeよう andそう. They always come after a phrase that describes them, and are used as adjectives or adverbs for other stuff.Let's start understandよう.As you can see above,よう means literally "appearance." And it'sdescribed by something that comes before it. It never shows up alone in a phrase. In English, this phrase becomes translated to "seems to be," "appears to be," "like," etc.Since it's a-adjective, you can have an attributiveand an adverbialtoo:By the way, the pronouns <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/10/konna-sonna-anna-donna-meaning.html">konna, sonna, anna, and donna</a> work like abbreviations of <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/10/kono-sono-ano-dono-meaning.html">kono/sono/ano/</a> . However, they do not work like-adjectives, and you can't sayto sayTheそう suffix works the same way, except it implies something "might be" something because it "looks like" something. For example:Another common-adjective suffix is的.Lastly, one thing that's not really useful but it's cool to know is the origin of-adjectives.Thecopula ofadjectives comes from the constructionにある. This is similar to how thecopula comes fromである.Theある ofandis the verb for "to exist,"在る.In modern Japanese,である has been analyzed as a predicative copulaで plus aある.In other words, thisisn't a verb with the meaning of "to exist" anymore, it's only there to serve apurpose, to do something related to the Japanese grammar syntax.That is, you can't inflect thedirectly like other u-ending verbs or i-ending adjectives, but you can inflectto past form,-form, etc. So the inflection of the dummyserves as the inflection of the copula for grammatical purposes.Besidesand, there was also a third construction,とある.Some adverbs in Japanese take theと particle. By addingある, it turns those adverbs into adjectives.So,andadjectives becameadjectives andadjectives, and thenadjectives becameadjectives.And you can actually addandto such words and conjugate that. It's the so-calledタリ活用 andナリ活用.In modern Japanese, thisたる is considered to be overly polite (since it's usually found in classical Japanese.)You can still findin some manga, but then the meaning is closer to "[something] which's supposed to be [something]" rather than "[something] which is [something]."</div>

Na-Adjectives in Japanese, ～な, ナ形容詞

na-adjectives are words that are usually turned into attributive adjectives by adding a na な after them. Some na-adjectives are always classified as adjectives, but others can be classified as nouns o…

29 Nov 2018

ほしい vs. たい

<div><a></a>hoshii ほしい, an auxiliary adjective that means "want" in Japanese, is: what's the difference between hoshii and <a></a> 
 
<a name="more"></a><h2 id="difference-in-usage">
Difference in Usage</h2>
Well, the difference is simple: -tai ～たい defaults to saying "I want to do" while hoshii ほしい defaults to "I want you to do." For example: 
<ul>
<li>shinitai 死にたい 
[I] want to die.</li>
<li>shinde hoshii 死んでほしい 
I want [you] to die.</li>
</ul>
 
Another example: 
<ul>
<li>koroshitai 殺したい 
[I] want to kill [someone].</li>
<li>korosaretai 殺されたい 
[I] want to be killed [by someone].</li>
<li>koroshite hoshii 殺してほしい 
[I] want [you] to kill [me]. 
[I] want [you] to kill [someone]. 
[I] want [someone] to kill [someone else].</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>nigetai 逃げたい 
[I] want to run away. 
[I] want to escape.</li>
<li>nigete hoshii 逃げてほしい 
[I] want [you] to run away. 
[I] want [you] to escape.</li>
</ul>
 
Some less edgy examples: 
<ul>
<li>oshietai 教えたい 
[I] want to teach.</li>
<li>oshiete hoshii 教えてほしい 
[I] want [you] to teach [me].</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>yomitai 読みたい 
[I] want to read.</li>
<li>yonde hoshii 呼んでほしい 
[I] want [you] to read [something] [for me].</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>akirametai 諦めたい 
[I] want to give up.</li>
<li>akiramete hoshii 諦めてほしい 
[I] want [you] to give up.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="moraitai">
Moraitai もらいたい</h2>
Note that, in many cases, hoshii is practically synonymous with the verb <a></a>-tai, that is, moraitai もらいたい. See: 
<ul>
<li>tsukuru 作る 
To build. To make.</li>
<li>tsukuritai 作りたい 
[I] want to build [something].</li>
<li>tsukutte morau 作ってもらう 
To have [you] build [something] [for me]. 
To have [someone] build [something].</li>
<li>tsukutte moraitai 作ってもらいたい 
[I] want to have [you] build [something] [for me] 
[I] want to have [someone] build [something].</li>
<li>tsukutte hoshii 作ってほしい 
[I] want [you] to build [something] [for me] 
[I] want [someone] to build [something].</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="conjugation">
Conjugation</h2>
Lastly, as you may have already noticed, hoshii is added to the te-form of verbs, while -tai ～たい suffixes the connective form, the ren'youkei 連用形.

A question people often have about <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/10/hoshii-meaning.html">hoshi 欲しい</a> , or rather,ほしい, an auxiliary adjective that means "want" in Japanese, is: what's the difference betweenand <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/10/tai-form.html">tai たい</a> , another auxiliary which also means "want" in Japanese?Well, the difference is simple:～たい defaults to saying "want to do" whileほしい defaults to "I wantto do." For example:Another example:Some less edgy examples:Note that, in many cases,is practically synonymous with the verb <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/10/ageru-kureru-morau-difference.html">morau もらう</a> plus, that is,もらいたい. See:Lastly, as you may have already noticed,is added to the-form of verbs, while～たい suffixes the connective form, the連用形.</div>

ほしい vs. たい

hoshii ほしい, an auxiliary adjective that means "want" in Japanese, is: what's the difference between hoshii and Difference in Usage Well, the difference is simple: -tai ～たい defaults to saying "I wan…

28 Nov 2018

Hoshii 欲しい - Meaning in Japanese

<div>hoshii 欲しい is a weird Japanese word. If you check a dictionary, you'll see in Japanese hoshii means "wanted." But that doesn't make much sense, does it? To want is a verb, hoshii is an <a></a>hoshii? 
 
<a name="more"></a><h2 id="definition">
Definition</h2>
Basically, hoshii 欲しい describes something you want to have, or that you want done. It's an adjective, after all, so it describes things. 
 
It just happens that in English we'd use the verb "to want" in its past participle form (wanted) as an adjective for stuff we want in general. So the words we use in English and the words used in Japanese don't match in this case, and you'll be happier avoiding translating it altogether: 
<ul>
<li>mono 物 
Thing. 
A thing. (like, any thing.)</li>
<li>hoshii mono 欲しい物 
(here, hoshii describes mono.) 
A wanted thing. (direct translation, sounds unnatural.) 
A thing [you'd] want. (adjectival clause translation with implied subject and verb "to want" instead.)</li>
</ul>
 
This goes both ways. When we say "wanted" in English, it isn't certain that'll become hoshii in Japanese. For example, to say "wanted criminal" in Japanese: 
<ul>
<li>hanzaisha 犯罪者 
Criminal.</li>
<li>hoshii hanzaisha 欲しい犯罪者 
Wanted criminal. (wrong!) 
A criminal [you] want. (like, personally. For your team, or for you to arrest yourself, or for whatever reasons you could possibly want a criminal for.)</li>
<li>shimei-tehai-jin 指名手配人 
Wanted criminal. (this is the right word.) 
Named search person. (literally.)</li>
</ul>
 
See? The word that means what we want to mean is completely different from hoshii! By the way, the reason for this is: 
<ul>
<li>shimei 指名 
To name (someone to do something.) To indicate. To appoint.</li>
<li>tehai 手配 
Search (by the police for someone.)</li>
<li>shimei-tehai 指名手配 
To name [someone] the police searches for.</li>
<li>shimei-tehai-jin 指名手配人 
Person whom the police has named they're searching for, a.k.a. a "wanted" (by the police) person, a wanted criminal.</li>
</ul>
 
Some more examples: 
<ul>
<li>anime-ka ga hoshii アニメ化が欲しい 
Wanted anime adaptation [of something]. (literally, anime-fication.) 
[I want] an anime adaptation [of something].</li>
<li>san-ki ga hoshii ３期が欲しい 
Wanted third season. 
[I want] a third season.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="inflections">
Inflections</h2>
The word hoshii 欲しい can be inflected just like any other i-adjective. 
<ul>
<li>neko ga hoshii 猫が欲しい 
Cats [are] wanted. (literal predicative adjective.) 
[I want] a cat.</li>
<li>inu wa hoshikunai 犬は欲しくない 
Dogs [are] not wanted. 
[I don't want] a dog.</li>
<li>kore ga hoshikatta これが欲しかった 
This [was] wanted. 
[I wanted] this.</li>
<li>kodomo ga hoshikunakatta 子供が欲しくなかった 
Children [were] not wanted. 
[I didn't want] children. (usually means "I didn't want to have children.")</li>
</ul>
 
And it can be used as a predicative adjective, like above, or as an attributive adjective, like below: 
<ul>
<li>hoshikatta mono wo te ni ireta 欲しかった物を手に入れた 
The wanted thing entered hand. (literally.) 
The thing [I wanted] entered [my] hand. (still bad.) 
[I have gained] the thing [that I wanted.]</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="auxiliary-adjective">
Auxiliary Adjective</h2>
When the adjective hoshii ほしい comes after the te-form of a verb, it stops being your normal i-adjective to become... *drum roll* ...an auxiliary adjective! Which's basically the same thing except it's weirder. 
 
Generally speaking, verb-te-hoshii means "[I] want [you] to verb." Note that <a></a> 
 
An example: 
<ul>
<li>oshieru 教える 
To teach. 
To tell. (some information.)</li>
<li>oshiete hoshii 教えてほしい 
[I] want [you] to teach [me]. (something.) 
[I] want [you] to tell [me]. (something.)</li>
</ul>
 
To understand how this hoshii auxiliary works, first we need to understand how the te-form works. Although it's often used to connect verbs to things, if we say just the te-form, it can be understood as a command to order people around. See: 
<ul>
<li>damaru 黙る 
To be silent.</li>
<li>damatte 黙って 
SHUT UP!!!11</li>
</ul>
 
So the hoshii auxiliary works by turning that command-like sentence into a wish. 
 
For example, if we have a phrase like this: 
<ul>
<li>nanika attara watashi ni itte 何かあったら私に言って 
If something happens tell me.</li>
</ul>
 
And then we remove <a></a> 
<ul>
<li>nanika attara itte 何かあったら言って 
If something happens tell [me].</li>
</ul>
 
And now we add hoshii. 
<ul>
<li>nanika attara itte hoshii 何かあったら言ってほしい 
If anything happens tell [me], IT'S WHAT I WANT. 
If anything happens, [I] want you to tell [me].</li>
</ul>
 
Some other examples: 
<ul>
<li>tatakau 戦う 
To fight.</li>
<li>tatakatte 戦って 
Fight!</li>
<li>issho ni tatakatte hoshii 一緒に戦ってほしい 
[I] want [you] to fight alongside [me].</li>
<ul>
<li>issho ni 一緒に 
Together with. Alongside.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>yurusu 許す 
To allow. To permit. To forgive.</li>
<li>yurushite 許して 
Forgive [me].</li>
<li>yurushite hoshii 許してほしい 
[I] want [you] to forgive [me].</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>yobu 呼ぶ 
To call. (someone.)</li>
<li>shita no namae de yonde hoshii 下の名前で呼んでほしい 
[I] want [you] to call [me] by [my] first name.</li>
<ul>
<li>shita no namae 下の名前 
Name of below. (literally.) 
Name below. Name under. 
First name. Given name. 
(in Japanese, the family name is written before the given name. Depending on <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/04/japanese-writing-horizontal-or-vertical.html">the direction Japanese is written</a>, it'd be family name left, given name right, or, vertically, family name above, first name below.)</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>korosu 殺す 
To kill.</li>
<li>koroshite hoshii hito ga iru 殺してほしい人がいる 
There's a person [I] want [you] to kill.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="causative-passive-hoshii">
Causative, Passive, Hoshii ほしい</h3>
The auxiliary hoshii can also be added after passive and causative forms of verbs. 
<ul>
<li>yomu 読む 
To read.</li>
<li>yomareru 読まれる 
To be read.</li>
<li>yomarete 読まれて 
Be read! (this doesn't make much sense but whatever.)</li>
<li>yomarete hoshii 読まれてほしい 
[That something] be read, is what I want!</li>
<li>ooku no hito ni yomarete hoshii hon 多くの人に読まれてほしい本 
A book [that I want] to be read by lots of people</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>yaru やる 
To do.</li>
<li>yaraseru やらせる 
To force [someone] to do. 
To let [someone] do.</li>
<li>yarasete やらせて 
Force [me] to do [it]. (unlikely.) 
Let [me] do [it]. (likely.)</li>
<li>yarasete hoshii やらせてほしい 
[I] want [you] to let [me] do [it]. 
[I] want [you] to force [me] to do [it].</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="欲しい-vs-ほしい">
欲しい vs. ほしい</h2>
Note that there's a difference between 欲しい and ほしい, that is, between hoshii <a></a><a></a> 
 
Technically, auxiliaries should be written without kanji in Japanese. This means that the hoshii after the te-form of verbs should be always written hoshii ほしい. 
 
There's no similar rule about spelling for i-adjectives, so the i-adjective hoshii can be either 欲しい or ほしい. 
 
To recap: 
<ul>
<li>okane ga hoshii お金が欲しい 
Money [is] wanted. 
[I want] money. 
(predicative adjective)</li>
<li>hoshii mono 欲しい物 
Wanted thing. 
[Something I want]. 
(attributive adjective.)</li>
<li>oshiete hoshii 教えてほしい 
[I] want [you] to tell/teach [me]. 
(auxiliary adjective.)</li>
</ul>
 
However, just because there's a rule that doesn't mean people actually care about said rule. You'll find that tons of people write shite hoshii して欲しい when they should write shite hoshii してほしい instead. 
<h2 id="hoshigaru">
欲しがる</h2>
The word hoshigaru 欲しがる is another word that means "to want." Unlike hoshii, hoshigaru is a verb. See: 
<ul>
<li>kane wo hoshigaru 金を欲しがる 
To want money.</li>
</ul>
 
The difference between hoshii 欲しい and hoshigaru 欲しがる is that the meaning of hoshigaru is normally closer to "covet" rather than "want." 
 
Generally, you use hoshii for something you want, and use hoshigaru for something someone else seems to want or yearns for. 
<ul>
<li>kodomo ga omocha wo hoshigaru 子供がおもちゃを欲しがる 
A child wants a toy. 
A child yearns for a toy.</li>
<li>geemu wo hoshigaru ゲームを欲しがる 
To want games. 
To want to possess, have, buy, play games. 
To covet games.</li>
<li>chi wo hoshigatteiru 血を欲しがっている 
[It] seems to be yearning for blood.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="hossuru">
欲する</h2>
The word hossuru 欲する (hoshi and suru merged, see: <a></a>another word that means "to want." It's also a verb. 
 
The difference this time is that hossuru 欲する isn't normally used, unlike more normal hoshigaru 欲しがる, , and that hossuru sounds rather archaic. 
 
Furthermore, hoshigaru 欲しがる implies you seem you want something, while hossuru 欲する is directly to want something. So hossuru could be considered a degree stronger than hoshigaru. 
 
In manga and anime, hossuru normally shows up in talks about kings and what they want to do with their kings, or legends and what the gods and demons want, etc. 
<ul>
<li>heiwa wo hossuru 平和を欲する 
To yearn for peace.</li>
<li>hito no tamashii wo hossuru shinigami 人の魂を欲する死神 
The god of death who yearns for the souls of people.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="further-reading">
Further Reading</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/10/tai-form.html">-tai ～たい</a> 
Another auxiliary that also makes "want" phrases.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/10/hoshii-vs-tai.html">Hoshii 欲しい vs. -Tai たい</a> 
The differences between these two auxiliaries.</li>
</ul>

The word欲しい is a weird Japanese word. If you check a dictionary, you'll see in Japanesemeans "wanted." But that doesn't make much sense, does it? To want is a verb,is an <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/10/i-adjectives.html">i-adjective</a> . So how does that work? What's the real meaning ofBasically,欲しい describes something you, or that you. It's an adjective, after all, so it describes things.It just happens that in English we'd use the verb "to want" in its past participle form () as an adjective for stuff we want in general. So the words we use in English and the words used in Japanese don't match in this case, and you'll be happier avoiding translating it altogether:This goes both ways. When we say "wanted" in English, it isn't certain that'll becomein Japanese. For example, to say "criminal" in Japanese:See? The word that means what we want to mean is completely different from! By the way, the reason for this is:Some more examples:The word欲しい can be inflected just like any other-adjective.And it can be used as a predicative adjective, like above, or as an attributive adjective, like below:When the adjectiveほしい comes after the-form of a verb, it stops being your normal-adjective to become... *drum roll* ...an! Which's basically the same thing except it's weirder.Generally speaking, verbmeans "[I][you] to verb." Note that <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/japanese-pronouns.html">Japanese pronouns</a> like "I" and "you" are often implicit. It could be "I want him to verb" or "he wants you to verb," etc. It depends on the context.An example:To understand how thisauxiliary works, first we need to understand how the-form works. Although it's often used to connect verbs to things, if we say just the-form, it can be understood as a command to order people around. See:So theauxiliary works by turning that command-like sentence into a wish.For example, if we have a phrase like this:And then we remove <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/08/watashi-boku-ore-meaning.html#watashi">watashi 私</a> because that's implicit anyway.And now we addSome other examples:The auxiliarycan also be added after passive and causative forms of verbs.Note that there's a difference between 欲しい and ほしい, that is, between <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/words-written-with-kanji.html">written with kanji</a> and <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/words-written-without-kanji.html">without kanji</a> , auxiliariesbe written withoutin Japanese. This means that theafter the-form of verbs should be always writtenほしい.There's no similar rule about spelling for-adjectives, so the-adjectivecan be either 欲しい or ほしい.To recap:, just because there's a rule that doesn't mean people actually care about said rule. You'll find that tons of people writeして欲しい when they should writeしてほしい instead.The word欲しがる is another word that means "to want." Unlikeis a verb. See:The difference between欲しい and欲しがる is that the meaning ofis normally closer to "covet" rather than "want."Generally, you usefor somethingwant, and usefor something someone elseorfor.The word欲する (andmerged, see: <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/sokuonbin-japanese.html">sokuonbin 促音便</a> ) is, well,word that means "to want." It's also a verb.The difference this time is that欲する isn't normally used, unlike more normal欲しがる,, and thatsounds rather archaic.Furthermore,欲しがる implies youyou want something, while欲する is directlysomething. Socould be considered a degree stronger thanIn manga and anime, hossuru normally shows up in talks about kings and what they want to do with their kings, or legends and what the gods and demons want, etc.</div>

Hoshii 欲しい - Meaning in Japanese

hoshii 欲しい is a weird Japanese word. If you check a dictionary, you'll see in Japanese hoshii means "wanted." But that doesn't make much sense, does it? To want is a verb, hoshii is an hoshii? Defin…

27 Nov 2018

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The website, the app and tons of content

The website, the app and tons of content

1. Learn Hiragana and Katakana

2. Get a textbook. My favorite:
Genki (second edition with a lovely MP3 CD)

1. Learn Hiragana and Katakana

2. Get a textbook. My favorite:
Genki (second edition with a lovely MP3 CD)

1. よつばと！(Yotsuba!)

1. よつばと！(Yotsuba!)

Review of Violet Evergarden

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This time content only, no furigana restrictions

1.) Yawara

This time content only, no furigana restrictions

1.) Yawara

The website, the app and tons of content

The website, the app and tons of content

1. Learn Hiragana and Katakana

2. Get a textbook. My favorite: Genki (second edition with a lovely MP3 CD)

1. Learn Hiragana and Katakana

2. Get a textbook. My favorite: Genki (second edition with a lovely MP3 CD)

1. よつばと！(Yotsuba!)

1. よつばと！(Yotsuba!)

2. Get a textbook. My favorite:
Genki (second edition with a lovely MP3 CD)

2. Get a textbook. My favorite:
Genki (second edition with a lovely MP3 CD)