Japanese Hobby

Naide ないで

<div>naide ないで is a phrase created from the auxiliary adjective <a></a>de で. It has a number of different functions, the most common one being to ask people not do something. 
 

Anime: "Kemono Friends," Kemono Furenzu けものフレンズ
<ul>
<li>tabenai-de kudasai! 食べないでください！ 
Please don't eat me!</li>
<li>— Kaban-Chan.</li>
</ul>
 
<h2 id="negative-request">
Negative Request</h2>
The most common use of naide ないで is to ask people not to do something. What this means exactly varies. It can range from "please don't do this," to "I don't want you to do this," to "stahp! Don't do that!" 
<ul>
<li>taberu 食べる 
To eat.</li>
<li>tabenai 食べない 
To not eat.</li>
<li>tabenaide!!! 食べないで！！！ 
Don't eat me!!! 
(or don't eat this/that/him/her/etc.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>korosu 殺す 
To kill.</li>
<li>korosanaide 殺さないで 
Don't kill [me].</li>
<li>shinu 死ぬ 
To die.</li>
<li>shinanaide 死なないで 
Don't die. 
Please don't die! Don't get yourself killed! Come back alive, MC-kun, the love of my life!!! When this all ends, let's get married. Etc.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/07/baka-meaning.html">baka</a> ni suru 馬鹿にする 
To take someone for an idiot. To make a fool of someone.</li>
<li>baka ni shinaide 馬鹿にしないで 
Don't make a fool [of me]. 
Stop lying to me. Stop joking. (specially when someone says something absurd, like their classmate is a God or something like that.)</li>
<li>watashi no koto wasurenaide 私のこと忘れないで 
Don't forget about me. 
(phrase used in romances before lovers part ways.)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/08/uso-meaning.html">uso</a> wo tsukanaide 嘘をつかないで 
Don't lie. Don't tell falsehoods.</li>
<li>nanimo shinaide 何もしないで 
Don't do anything.</li>
</ul>
 
One thing about these negative requests is that, they're not just negative in the grammatical sense, they're also negative in the "this sounds negative" sense. Because you only tell someone to "not do this" if they're doing or about to do something you don't want them to do. Which means some of these words are used in some pretty sad contexts: 
<ul>
<li>okoranaide 怒らないで 
Don't get angry [at me].</li>
<li>naguranaide 殴らないで 
Don't hit [me].</li>
<li>sawaganaide 騒がないで 
Don't make a fuss.</li>
<li>kikanaide 聞かないで 
Don't ask.</li>
<li>minaide 見ないで 
Don't look.</li>
<li>konaide 来ないで 
Don't come [toward me]. 
Don't approach [me].</li>
<li>toranaide 撮らないで 
Don't take [photos/videos].</li>
<li>hashiranaide 走らないで 
Don't run.</li>
<li>nigenaide 逃げないで 
Don't run away.</li>
<li>nenaide 寝ないで 
Don't sleep.</li>
<li>tatakawanaide 戦わないで 
Don't fight. Don't battle.</li>
<li>barasanaide バラさないで 
Don't tell (others something that's a secret.) 
Don't snitch. Don't expose.</li>
<li>akiramenaide 諦めないで 
Don't give up.</li>
</ul>
 
Generally speaking, this naide is synonymous with naide kudasai ないでください, and naide kure ないでくれ, although the nuance is different. 
<ul>
<li>sawaru 触る 
To touch.</li>
<li>sawaranaide 触らないで 
Don't touch [me].</li>
<li> sawaranai-de kure 触らないでくれ 
Please don't touch [me].</li>
<li>sawaranai-de kureru? 触らないでくれる？ 
Can you please not touch [me]? 
(in anime, this is often said by an annoyed character.)</li>
<li>sawaranai-de kudasai 触らないでください 
Please don't touch [me]. (polite.)</li>
</ul>
 
It can also come before other auxiliaries like <a></a> 
<ul>
<li>kenka shinai-de hoshii ケンカしないでほしい 
[I] want [y'all] not to quarrel. 
I'd like it if you two didn't fight.</li>
</ul>
 
You may notice this resembles the te-form of verbs: sawatte kudasai 触ってください means "please touch." The kudasai goes directly after the te-form, the same way it goes directly after the naide. 
 
Furthermore, sawatte 触って alone can mean a "touch" as a command, in the imperative. Likewise, you could say sawaranaide is a negative command rather than a negative request, a negative imperative. 
 
So naide is practically a te-form, isn't it? But wait... nai already has a te-form! It's nakute! Why does nai have two te-forms? And most importantly: what's the difference between naide and nakute? 
<h2 id="naide-vs-nakute">
ないで vs. なくて</h2>
Basically, there are cases naide ないで and nakute なくて are interchangeable: you can use one or the other, because their meanings overlap, but that's not always. For example, in this case they mean the same thing: 
<ul>
<li>makenakute yokatta 負けなくて良かった 
makenai-de yokatta 負けないで良かった 
Having not lost was good. 
[It's a] good [thing I] didn't lose.</li>
</ul>
 
One big difference between that naide ないで can be used with auxiliary verbs, but nakute can't. 
<ul>
<li>makenai-de-iru 負けないでいる 
To be not losing.</li>
<li>makenakute-iru 負けなくている 
(wrong!)</li>
</ul>
 
The rule above includes kudasai ください. That is, although kudasai looks like an <a></a>-i ～い, it's actually a conjugation of the verb kudasaru くださる, so you use it after naide, not after nakute. 
<ul>
<li>makenai-de kudasai 負けないでください 
Please don't lose!</li>
<li>makenakute kudasai 負けなくてください. 
(wrong!)</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="usage-breakdown">
Different Ways to Use</h2>
To understand naide ないで better, let's take a look at the following phrases: 
<ol>
<li>shukudai wo shinai-de okorareta 宿題をしないで怒られた 
Got scolded for not having done the homework.</li>
<li>shukudai wo shinai-de gakkou ni itta 宿題をしないで学校にいった 
Went to school not having done the homework.</li>
<li>shukudai wo shinai-de geemu bakari shiteiru 宿題をしないでゲームばかりしている 
Playing games all the time not having done the homework.</li>
</ol>
 
All three of them share the first part: shukudai wo shinai-de, "not having done the homework." But the meaning is slightly different in each. 
 
In the first example, we have the classic consequential te-form. You "got scolded," okorareta. Why? Because you did "not do the homework," shukudai wo shinai. In this case, and in this case alone, you can replace naide for nakute. 
<ul>
<li>shukudai wo shinakute okorareta 宿題をしなくて怒られた 
Got scolded for not having done the homework. 
Homework do not, thus got scolded.</li>
</ul>
 
In the second example, the de particle is joining two parallel things: the situation and the action. The situation is that you did "not do the homework." And the action is that you "went to school," gakkou ni itta. In other words, having not done the homework, you went to school. 
 
A more direct example: 
<ul>
<li>kekkon shinai-de shinda 結婚しないで死んだ 
Not having married, died. 
Died without having married.</li>
</ul>
 
But a phrase like this has a bunch of problems. 
 
First off, it's ambiguous with "died of not marrying," even though something weird like that is pretty unlikely to be the case. Second off, although it's grammatically correct, it sounds weird, and there's a lot of better ways to say something like that: 
<ul>
<li>kekkon sezu ni shinda 結婚せずに死んだ 
Died without marrying.</li>
<li>kekkon shinai mama shinda 結婚しないまま死んだ 
Died still not married.</li>
</ul>
 
Anyway, the third example, although grammatically identical, has the nuance of a complaint instead. The format, "you don't do X, you keep doing Y instead," is often always a complaint about somebody's behavior. 
<ul>
<li>benkyou shinai-de anime bakkari miteru 勉強しないでアニメばっかり見てる 
Doesn't study, watches anime all the time.</li>
</ul>

 

You can also reverse the phrase pattern above to ask someone to stop doing something and go do something else instead.
<ul>
<li>anime bakkari minai-de benkyou shiro アニメばっかり見ないで勉強しろ Don't watch anime all the time, go study.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="further-reading">
Further Reading</h2>
 
<h3>
References</h3>
 

In Japanese,ないで is a phrase created from the auxiliary adjective <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/03/nai-meaning-japanese.html">nai ない</a> plus the particleで. It has a number of different functions, the most common one being to ask people not do something.The most common use ofないで is to ask people not to do something. What this means exactly varies. It can range from "please don't do this," to "I don't want you to do this," to "stahp! Don't do that!"One thing about these negative requests is that, they're not just negative in the grammatical sense, they're also negative in the "this sounds negative" sense. Because you only tell someone to "not do this" if they're doing or about to do something you don't want them to do. Which means some of these words are used in some pretty sad contexts:Generally speaking, thisis synonymous withないでください, andないでくれ, although the nuance is different.It can also come before other auxiliaries like <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/10/hoshii-meaning.html">hoshii 欲しい</a> You may notice this resembles the-form of verbs:ください means "please touch." Thegoes directly after the-form, the same way it goes directly after theFurthermore,alone can mean a "touch" as a command, in the imperative. Likewise, you could sayis a negative command rather than a negative request, a negative imperative.Sois practically a-form, isn't it? But wait...already has a-form! It's! Why doeshave two-forms? And most importantly: what's the difference betweenandBasically, there are casesないで andなくて are interchangeable: you can use one or the other, because their meanings overlap, but that's not always. For example, in this case they mean the same thing:One big difference between thatないで can be used with auxiliary verbs, butcan't.The rule above includesください. That is, althoughlooks like an <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/10/i-adjectives.html">i-adjective</a> , because it ends with～い, it's actually a conjugation of the verbくださる, so you use it after, not afterTo understandないで better, let's take a look at the following phrases:All three of them share the first part:, "not having done the homework." But the meaning is slightly different in each.In the first example, we have the classic consequential-form. You "got scolded,". Why? Because you did "not do the homework,". In this case, and in this case alone, you can replaceforIn the second example, theparticle is joining two parallel things: the situation and the action. The situation is that you did "not do the homework." And the action is that you "went to school,". In other words, having not done the homework, you went to school.A more direct example:But a phrase like this has a bunch of problems.First off, it's ambiguous with "died of not marrying," even though something weird like that is pretty unlikely to be the case. Second off, although it's grammatically correct, it sounds weird, and there's a lot of better ways to say something like that:Anyway, the third example, although grammatically identical, has the nuance of a complaint instead. The format, "you don't do X, you keep doing Y instead," is often always a complaint about somebody's behavior.</div>

Naide ないで

naide ないで is a phrase created from the auxiliary adjective de で. It has a number of different functions, the most common one being to ask people not do something. Anime: "Kemono Friends," Kemono Furen…

24 Dec 2018

Nai ない, 無い

<div>nai. It appears after the particles dewa では, dewanai ではない, after verbs, shinjirarenai 信じられない, and sometimes completely alone, just nai 無い. So, the question is: what does nai mean in Japanese? And why do you hear it so much? 
 
<a name="more"></a><h2 id="negative-nai">
Negative Nai</h2>
The most alert anime-watchers probably have already figured that nai means something negative. Pretty much every time there's a nai there is not something else. For example: 
<ul>
<li>shinjirareru 信じられる 
Believable.</li>
<li>shinjirarenai 信じられない 
Not believable.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>samui 寒い 
Cold.</li>
<li>samukunai 寒くない 
Not cold.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>de aru である 
Is.</li>
<li>dewanai ではない 
Is not.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>iru いる 
[Is] here.</li>
<li>inai いない 
[Is] not here.</li>
</ul>
 
What happens is that the nai suffix is an auxiliary adjective that turns verbs into their negative forms. So every time you have a nai, you're basically denying what you just said. 
<ul>
<li>yomu 読む 
To read.</li>
<li>yomanai 読まない 
Not to read.</li>
</ul>
 
This can be a little difficult to notice if you rely on subtitles and don't have some understanding of Japanese. That's because translations aren't always literal, which is good, and that means sometimes you have a nai in Japanese that's not translated as "not" in English. 
<h3 id="translation">
Multiple Ways to Translate Nai</h3>
To understand how nai can be translated in various ways, let's see an example: 
 
The word shinjiru 信じる means "to believe." It's potential form, "can believe," is shinjirareru 信じられる. If you add a nai to that, you get the negative potential form shinjirarenai 信じられない, denying that you can believe, that is: "can't believe." 
 
But nobody is going to actually write some stupid phrase like "can believe" or "can't believe" in a translation. Because scenes with these words usually carry a lot of emotion and it's more like "I TRUSTED U" or "OH MY GOD Y DID U DO DIZ 2 MEEeeeeeee..." 
 
As you can see, nai always makes the verb negative in Japanese, but translations won't always literally make the verb negative in English. This is why it seems like nai has multiple meanings, even thought it doesn't. 
 
This specially shows up in the verb iru いる: 
<ul>
<li>iru いる 
It's here. We got (the thing). We have it in store. Yep, here. 
That person you looking for? Here. He's here.</li>
<li>inai いない 
It's gone. It disappeared. Where is (the thing)?!! WHERE IS IT?!?!?! 
He's away. He left. Nobody's home. 
(lit.: is not here.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>iru 要る 
It is needed. I need it. It's required.</li>
<li>iranai 要らない 
No, thanks. I'll pass. (when offered something) 
(lit.: does not need.)</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="desu-plus-nai">
Desu Copula Plus Nai</h3>
One of the most common and impossible to notice uses of nai is with <a></a>desu nai combo. 
 
Except not. 
 
Because there is no desu nai in Japanese! That doesn't exist. It's actually janai じゃない, which is a contraction of dewanai ではない. 
 
You might not have noticed it, but every time you hear janai or dewanai in anime, it's actually desu and nai mixed together! 
<ul>
<li>neko da 猫だ 
neko desu 猫です 
<a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/08/it-pronoun.html">[It]</a> is a cat.</li>
<li>neko janai 猫じゃない 
neko dewanai 猫ではない 
[It] is not a cat.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="isnt-it">
Isn't It?</h2>
Not every time there's a nai we're denying a statement. Sometimes, the nai is used to form a question that asks for agreement, or, in other words, it's translated as "isn't it?" This is specially the case when it's used with adjectives. For example: 
<ul>
<li>samishii 寂しい 
Lonely.</li>
<li>samishikunai 寂しくない 
Not lonely. (literally.)</li>
<li>samishikunai? 寂しくない？ 
[Are] not [you] lonely? 
Aren't [you] lonely?</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="nakatta">
Nakatta なかった</h2>
The word nakatta なかった is actually the past form of nai ない. Since nai ない is an auxiliary adjective, that means it's treated as an <a></a> 
<ul>
<li>tanoshii 楽しい 
Fun. 
(tanoshii is an i-adjective.)</li>
<li>tanoshikatta 楽しかった 
Was fun. 
(past form.)</li>
<li>tanoshikunai 楽しくない 
Not fun. 
(nai auxiliary is an i-adjective.)</li>
<li>tanoshikunakatta 楽しくなかった 
Was not fun. 
(past form.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>taberu 食べる 
To eat.</li>
<li>tabenai 食べない 
Not to eat.</li>
<li>tabenakatta 食べなかった 
Did not eat.</li>
</ul>
 
Now, you might be feeling a little trouble since some words showed up out of nowhere. Like, we have a "was" there, but "was" in Japanese is deshita or datta. And there's a "did" but "did" in Japanese is shita. 
 
Well, the fact is, the examples above, in Japanese, are in the past tense. We need to translate that past tense to English somehow. And we can't do that without adding some extra words. Which's why we have one word in Japanese that translate to two or more words in English. 
<h2 id="nee-colloquialism">
Nee ねぇ, ねー</h2>
The words nee ね<a></a>nee ね<a></a>nai ない. That is: nai pronounced wrong. These colloquialisms are often used by more gang-looking characters. Certainly not what the more fine characters would use. 
 
To have a better idea: 
<ul>
<li>dewanai ではない 
Is not.</li>
<li>janai じゃない 
Isn't.</li>
<li>janee じゃなぇ 
Ain't.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="shiran">
Shiran 知らん</h2>
Another colloquialism can be see in the word shiran 知らん, which basically translates to "dunno." This is literally shiranai 知らない, "to not know," contracted: shiran 知らん. 
<ul>
<li>shiranai kedo 知らないけど 
But [I] don't know.</li>
<li>shiran kedo 知らんけど 
But [I] dunno.</li>
</ul>
 
This same pattern can be see in some other words: 
<ul>
<li>wakaru 分かる 
I get it.</li>
<li>wakaranai 分からない 
I don't get it.</li>
<li>wakaran 分からん 
*shrug*</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="nai-with-other-suffixes">
Nai With Other Suffixes</h2>
Because of <a></a>nai after almost any conjugation of any verb. Which means its denying meaning compounds with different conjugations. 
 
For example, a verb in the non-past goes like this: 
<ul>
<li>taberu 食べる 
To eat.</li>
<li>tabenai 食べない 
Not to eat.</li>
</ul>
 
If it's potential or passive, it becomes like this: 
<ul>
<li>taberareru 食べられる 
Is eaten. (passive.) 
Can be eaten. (potential.)</li>
<li>taberarenai 食べられない 
Is not eaten. (passive negative.) 
Can't be eaten. (negative potential.)</li>
</ul>
 
If it's causative, it goes like this: 
<ul>
<li>tabesaseru 食べさせる 
To make (someone) eat (something). Force-feed.</li>
<li>tabesasenai 食べさせない 
To not make (someone) eat (something.) 
To not let (someone) eat (something.)</li>
</ul>
 
If it has the <a></a> 
<ul>
<li>tabetai 食べたい 
Want to eat (something.)</li>
<li>tabetakunai 食べたくない 
Not want to eat (something.)</li>
</ul>
 
You can even inflect the nai to its past form nakatta. 
<ul>
<li>tabetakunakatta 食べたくなかった 
Did not want to eat (something.)</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="shinai">
Shinai しない</h3>
One special note: the word shinai しない is the negative form of the suru する verb. Every verb that ends with suru can be turned into negative by saying shinai instead of suru. 
<ul>
<li>ai suru 愛する 
To love.</li>
<li>ai shinai 愛しない 
To not love.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="nai-desu">
Nai Desu ないです</h2>
When desu comes after a nai, like, nai desu ないです, it usually has an assertive function. That's because generally you don't need to add a copula in Japanese, so when you do add it, it emphasizes what you're saying. 
<ul>
<li>shikata 仕方 
Way of doing.</li>
<li>shikatanai 仕方ない 
No way of doing. 
[Can't be helped.]</li>
<li>shikatanai desu 仕方ないです 
There's really no way of doing. That's a pity. Shame, really. So sad. Very unfortunate. Much anxiety. Can't be helped. At all. *profound sigh*</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="nainda">
Nainda ないんだ</h2>
The word nainda ないんだ, or rather, nai-n-da, is the combination of nai ない, the contraction of the nominalizing particle no の, which is n ん, and the plain copula da だ. 
 
Basically, it's literally the same thing as nai desu, except it's not polite. So it just emphasizes or asserts what you just said. 
<ul>
<li>shikatanai 仕方ない 
It can't be helped.</li>
<li>shikatanai-n-da 仕方ないんだ 
shikatanai no da 仕方ないのだ 
*sigh* it just can't be helped.</li>
</ul>
 
By the way, the reason why you need the particles n ん or no の is that nai is an adjective and you can't put the copula da だ right after an adjective, so you need to turn it into a noun first. With the polite copula desu that's allowed so you don't need the particles. 
<h2 id="polite-form">
Polite Form</h2>
If you're studying Japanese, you may be aware of polite speech and that Japanese verbs have a "polite form" in which they get the <a></a>nai? 
 
Well, there isn't one, 'cause nai ain't no verb. It's an adjective. 
 
What you might want, however, is the polite equivalent of nai, which would be masen ません. And the polite of nakatta would be masen deshita ませんでした. 
<ul>
<li>kaku 書く 
To write.</li>
<li>kakimasu 書きます 
To write. (polite.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>kakanai 書かない 
To not write.</li>
<li>kakimasen 書きません 
To not write. (polite.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>kakanakatta 書かなかった 
Did not write.</li>
<li>kakimasen deshita 書きませんでした 
Did not write. (polite.)</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="nakute">
Nakute なくて</h2>
The word nakute なくて is the te-form of nai. There's nothing special about it. When nai is affixed to an adjective, it works just like the <a></a> 
<ul>
<li>samukunakute ii tenki 寒くなくていい天気 
Non-cold and good weather. 
Because it's not cold, it's a good weather.</li>
</ul>
 
Likewise, with verbs: 
<ul>
<li>korosanakute sumu 殺さなくて済む 
To not kill and end it. 
To end it [without] killing [anyone.]</li>
<li>iwanakute ii kara 言わなくていいから 
Not saying [it to me is] good. 
You don't need to say it. You don't need to tell me.</li>
<li>yomenakutemo wakaru 読めなくても分かる 
Even if [I] can't read [it], [I] understand [it]. 
[I] understand even if [I] can't read [it].</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="naide">
Naide ないで</h2>
The phrase naide ないで is the combination of nai plus the de で particle. Most of the time, it means "don't do [something]." A negative request. For example: 
<ul>
<li>akirameru 諦める 
To give up.</li>
<li>akiramenaide! 諦めないで！ 
Don't give up!</li>
<li>akiramenai-de kudasai! 諦めないでください！ 
Please don't give up!</li>
</ul>
 
See the article on <a></a> 
<h2 id="nai-nonexistent">
Nai 無い, "Nonexistent"</h2>
In some rare cases, the word nai 無い is an adjective meaning "nonexistent" instead of an auxiliary adjective that makes negative forms that deny stuff. 
 
Now, if you are like me, an average Joe, I'm pretty sure this is the first time in the year you see the word "nonexistent" being used. This is because when something is "nonexistent" you don't say it is "nonexistent," you say something else. See: 
<ul>
<li>uchi dewa terebi ga nai 家ではテレビが無い 
TV is nonexistent in my home. (robot way) 
There's no TV in my home. (normal way)</li>
<li>terebi no nai seikatsu テレビの無い生活 
Nonexistent TV livelihood. (robot way) 
Livelihood without a TV. (normal way)</li>
</ul>
 
See? It's all matter of how you translate things. That's why nai is so confusing. You can translate it in a way it's closer to Japanese, then you get to see nai's real meaning, or you can translate it in a way it makes sense in English, then you a bunch of random words inserted in the phrase. 
 

Manga: Uchouten Kazoku 有頂天家族
<ul>
<li>Context: a character searches for a thing in the wreckage.</li>
<li>nai! 
nai nai! 
無い！　無い無い！ 
[It's not here! Not here! Not here!]</li>
<li>nani ga nai tte iu no...? 
何が無いっていうの・・・？ 
What's [he] saying that's not there...?</li>
<li>saa さあ 
[Dunno.]</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="aru-to-exist">
Aru 在る</h3>
By the way, the antonym of nai 無い would be aru 在る. Which is weird, because one is an adjective, the other is a verb. It makes no sense but it's true. See: 
<ul>
<li>teberi ga nai テレビが無い 
There is no TV.</li>
<li>terebi ga aru テレビが在る 
There is TV.</li>
</ul>
 
You can only tell it in phrases like the above. Most of the time, aru ある is written without the kanji. One common word with the aru 在る, "to exist," kanji is sonzai 存在, "existence," which only serves to show how these two kanji (在 and 無) are pretty much antonyms. 
<h3 id="aru-to-have">
Aru 有る</h3>
By the way, the antonym of nai 無い would be aru 有る. Which is weird, because I already wrote this before? 
 
Oh! <a></a> 
 
See, what happens is that aru 在る means "to exist," but aru 有る means "to have" a possession. Since they're antonyms, that means nai 無い can also mean "to not have" a possession. 
<ul>
<li>kane ga aru 金が有る 
To have money.</li>
<li>kane ga nai 金が無い 
Have no money.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="sore-wa-nai">
Sore wa Nai それはない</h2>
Sometimes, the word nai ない is used when someone is presented with such an absurd idea the only response they can have for it is: 
<ul>
<li>nai ない 
Nope.</li>
</ul>
 
This one can be a bit tricky to get since the word nai is alone, showing up out of the blue. 
 
More technically, it's an answer to the question: is this okay? Proper? Valid? Possible? Is something like this even allowed? Nope! No way! "That's not!!" Sore wa nai!! 
 

Manga: Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, Kobayashi-san Chi no Meidoragon 小林さんちのメイドラゴン
<ul>
<li>kyou no gohan wa? 
今日のご飯は？ 
Today's [dinner] [is]?</li>
<li>hai!! 
sore wa desu ne... 
はい！！　それはですね… 
Yes!! That's, [you see]...</li>
<li>etto... 
えっと… 
Erm...</li>
<li>watashi no 
shippo-yaki 
desu 
私の　しっぽ焼き　です 
My roasted-tail.</li>
<li>*Kobayashi.exe freezes for a moment.*</li>
<li>nai wa 
ないわ 
Nope.</li>
<li>e? 
え？ 
Eh?</li>
<li>nai wa 
ないわ 
No way.</li>
<li>ee!? 
えぇ！？ 
Eeh!?</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="sore-wa-ari">
Sore wa Ari それはあり</h3>
By the way, the opposite would be ari あり. This one usually shows up when someone questions the legality of an absurd situation. Specially when there are rules in place, or one assumes there should be rules against something because of how absurd it is. 
 
For example, in a 1-vs-1 robot-fighting championship, can a robot be actually two robots that split in two mid-fight turning it into a 2-x-1 fight? 
<ul>
<li>sore wa nai それはない 
That's nonexistent. 
That's not okay. Not valid. 
That doesn't happen. 
That's illegal. 
That's not allowed. 
That's against the rules.</li>
<li>sore wa ari それはあり 
That's existent. 
That okay. Valid. 
That does happen. 
That's legal. 
That's allowed. 
That's not against the rules.</li>
<li>ari ka yo!? ありかよ！？ 
[It's] allowed!?</li>
</ul>
 
In manga and anime, it tends to show up when an opponent has some technique that seems to be "against the rules," even in contexts like wars, etc. where there aren't any actual rules in place. The enemy ability is so bizarre the character questions how something like that can be allowed. 
 
It can also happen when the characters come up with a dubious solution for a problem that makes people question whether something like that is legitimate. Not from a police point of view, just from a "is the author even allowed to do this?" point of view. 
 

Anime: SSSS.Gridman, Episode 5
<ul>
<li>Context: the computer is outside, but it needs energy, so they plugged it to an extension cord.</li>
<li>kouiu no... ari nano? 
こういうの…ありなの？ 
This sort of [thing]... is it [valid]? 
Is this sort of thing allowed?</li>
<li>kouiu baai wa ari nano! 
こういう場合はありなの！ 
In this sort of circumstances it's [valid]! 
In this case it's allowed!</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="mu-prefix">
Mu 無</h2>
The word mu 無 isn't a word. It's a prefix. 
 
As you can see, it's <a></a>nai 無い. But nai has the <a></a>mu has the <a></a><a></a> 
 
When mu 無 is part of a word, it basically makes whatever the rest of the kanji mean nonexistent. For example: 
<ul>
<li>muyou 無用 
Useless. (nonexistent use)</li>
<li>muryou 無料 
Free. (nonexistent charge, cost, price)</li>
<li>muri 無理 
Impossible. (nonexistent logic, basis)</li>
</ul>
 
An interesting thing is that for some words you actually have antonyms featuring antonym kanji from before. 
<ul>
<li>mugen 無限 
Infinite. (nonexistent limit)</li>
<li>yuugen 有限 
Finite. (existing limit.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>mukou 無効 
Ineffective. (nonexistent effect)</li>
<li>yuukou 有効 
Effective. (existing effect.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>muzai 無罪 
Innocent. (nonexistent guilt.)</li>
<li>yuuzai 有罪 
Guilty. (existing guilty.) 
(getting this on <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/01/gyakuten-saiban-game-vocabulary.html">Gyuakuten Saiban</a> means game-over.)</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="nai-with-kanji">
ない vs. 無い</h2>
The word nai ない can be written in two ways: nai ない and nai 無い. <a></a><a></a> 
 
It's simple, really. When nai ない is used as an auxiliary adjective, which is almost always, it's written without kanji. 
 
When nai ない is a normal adjective, meaning "nonexistent," it can be written with kanji. That doesn't mean it will be written with kanji, it just means it's allowed to write it with kanji then. 
 
This happens because it's an orthographic rule that auxiliaries are always supposed to be written without kanji. The same thing happens with <a></a>kanji when it's the potential for suru, but can be spelled dekiru 出来る when it means "made of." 
<h2 id="nakunai">
Nakunai なくない</h2>
Since you can put nai ない after i-adjectives to negate them and nai ない is an i-adjective itself, it makes sense that, grammatically, you can add nai to nai itself, creating nakunai, a double negative. 
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/10/sugoi-meaning.html">sugoi! 凄い！</a> 
Incredible!</li>
<li>sugokunai 凄くない 
Not incredible.</li>
<li>sugokunakunai 凄くなくない 
Not not incredible. (yes, incredible.)</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="nakunakunai">
Nakunakunai なくなくない</h3>
Likewise, you can add a nai ない to nakunai なくない, creating a nakunakunai triple-negative aberration, because why not? 
<ul>
<li>sugokunakunakunai 凄くなくなくない 
Not not not incredible. (not incredible.)</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="nakunakunakunai">
Nakunakunakunai なくなくなくない</h4>
And yeah, of course you can add a nai ない to nakunakunai なくなくない too, obviously, I mean, that's just nakunakunakunai, a quadruple-negative monstrosity, no big deal. 
<ul>
<li>sugokunakunakunakunai 凄くなくなくなくない 
Not not not not incredible. (yes incredible)</li>
</ul>
 
And if you are wondering: is there even a point in doing this? Or: do Japanese natives even do this? The answer is easy: OF COURSE THEY DON'T DO THIS BECAUSE THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NO POINT IN DOING THIS AT ALL!!!!1 
 
I mean, yeah, grammatically speaking, it makes sense, in every other manner of speaking, however, it makes no sense. Why would you even do any of this? So don't do any of this. This kind of negative suffix stacking only ever shows up jokingly. 
 

Game: Gyakuten Saiban 2 逆転裁判２ (Ace Attorney)
<ul>
<li>Context: Naruhodo ナルホド (Phoenix Wright's Japanese name) shows Mayoi マヨイ a photo of her shooting dead Kirisaki-sensei 霧崎先生 (a.k.a. Turner Grey.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Mayoi マヨイ</li>
<li>kore, atashi.... nanda yo ne. 
これ、あたし・・・・なんだよね。 
This, it's me... isn't it?</li>
<li>yappari, atashi ga uttanda. 
やっぱり、あたしが撃ったんだ。 
As I thought, I did shoot.</li>
<li>Kirisaki-sensei no koto.... 
霧崎先生のコト・・・・ 
Dr. Turner Grey....</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Naruhodo ナルホド</li>
<li>sonna koto nai yo. 
そんなことないよ。 
It's not like that.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Mayoi マヨイ</li>
<li>sonna koto nakunai'! 
そんなことなくないッ！ 
It's not not like that!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Naruhodo ナルホド</li>
<li>sonna koto nakunakunai! 
そんなことなくなくない！ 
It's not not not like that!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Mayoi マヨイ</li>
<li>sonna koto nakunakunakunakunaku... 
そんなことなくなくなくなくなく... 
It's not not not not not...</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Naruhodo ナルホド</li>
<li>(....saisho kara, konna shashin 
miseru-n-janakatta na....) 
（・・・・最初から、こんな写真 
見せるんじゃなかったな・・・・） 
(....from the start, a photo like this shouldn't have been shown....)</li>
<ul>
<li>i.e.: it's not something you should show, I shouldn't have shown a photo like this.</li>
</ul>
</ul>

One extremely common and very basic word in Japanese is. It appears after the particlesでは,では, after verbs,信じられ, and sometimes completely alone, just無い. So, the question is: what doesmean in Japanese? And why do you hear it so much?The most alert anime-watchers probably have already figured thatmeans something negative. Pretty much every time there's athere issomething else. For example:What happens is that thesuffix is anthat turns verbs into their. So every time you have a, you're basically denying what you just said.This can be a little difficult to notice if you rely on subtitles and don't have some understanding of Japanese. That's because translations aren't always literal, which is good, and that means sometimes you have ain Japanese that's not translated as "not" in English.To understand howcan be translated in various ways, let's see an example:The word信じる means "to believe." It's potential form, "can believe," is信じられる. If you add ato that, you get the negative potential form信じられない, denying that you can believe, that is: "can't believe."But nobody is going to actually write some stupid phrase like "can believe" or "can't believe" in a translation. Because scenes with these words usually carry a lot of emotion and it's more like "I TRUSTED U" or "OH MY GOD Y DID U DO DIZ 2 MEEeeeeeee..."As you can see,makes the verb negative in Japanese, but translations won't always literally make the verb negative in English. This is why it seems likehas multiple meanings, even thought it doesn't.This specially shows up in the verbいる:One of the most common and impossible to notice uses ofis with <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/08/desu-deshita-janai-meaning.html">the desu copula</a> . In English, our copulative words are "is," "are," and "be" (and their variations). So the negative of that would be "isn't," "aren't" and "not be." All of this achievable in Japanese with thecombo.Except not.Because there is noin Japanese! That doesn't exist. It's actuallyじゃない, which is a contraction ofではない.You might not have noticed it, but every time you hearorin anime, it's actuallyandmixed together!Not every time there's awe're denying a statement. Sometimes, the nai is used to form a question that asks for agreement, or, in other words, it's translated as "isn't it?" This is specially the case when it's used with adjectives. For example:The wordなかった is actually theofない. Sinceない is an auxiliary adjective, that means it's treated as an <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/10/i-adjectives.html">i-adjective</a> and can be inflected like one.Now, you might be feeling a little trouble since some words showed up out of nowhere. Like, we have a "was" there, but "was" in Japanese isor. And there's a "did" but "did" in Japanese isWell, the fact is, the examples above, in Japanese, are in the past tense. We need to translate that past tense to English somehow. And we can't do that without adding some extra words. Which's why we have one word in Japanese that translate to two or more words in English.The words <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/small-kana.html">ぇ</a> or <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/04/prolonged-sound-mark.html">ー</a> are colloquial variants ofない. That is:pronounced wrong. These colloquialisms are often used by more gang-looking characters. Certainly not what the more fine characters would use.To have a better idea:Another colloquialism can be see in the word知らん, which basically translates to "dunno." This is literally知らない, "to not know," contracted:知らん.This same pattern can be see in some other words:Because of <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/07/verbs-japanese-grammar.html">how verbs work in Japanese</a> , you can addafter almost any conjugation of any verb. Which means its denying meaning compounds with different conjugations.For example, a verb in the non-past goes like this:If it's potential or passive, it becomes like this:If it's causative, it goes like this:If it has the <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/10/tai-form.html">-tai ～たい</a> suffix, it becomes like this:You can even inflect theto its past formOne special note: the wordしない is the negative form of theする verb. Every verb that ends withcan be turned into negative by sayinginstead ofWhencomes after a, like,ないです, it usually has an assertive function. That's because generally you don't need to add a copula in Japanese, so when you do add it, it emphasizes what you're saying.The wordないんだ, or rather,, is the combination ofない, the contraction of the nominalizing particleの, which isん, and the plain copulaだ.Basically, it's literally the same thing as, except it's not polite. So it just emphasizes or asserts what you just said.By the way, the reason why you need the particlesん orの is thatis an adjective and you can't put the copulaだ right after an adjective, so you need to turn it into a noun first. With the polite copulathat's allowed so you don't need the particles.If you're studying Japanese, you may be aware of polite speech and that Japanese verbs have a "polite form" in which they get the <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/02/masu-mashita-meaning.html">masu suffix</a> added to them, and you might be wondering: what is the polite form ofWell, there isn't one, 'causeain't no verb. It's an adjective.What you might want, however, is the polite equivalent of, which would beません. And the polite ofwould beませんでした.The wordなくて is the-form of. There's nothing special about it. Whenis affixed to an adjective, it works just like the <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/01/japanese-adjectives.html#te-forms">te-form of adjectives</a> . See:Likewise, with verbs:The phraseないで is the combination ofplus theで particle. Most of the time, it means "don't do [something]." A negative request. For example:See the article on <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/12/naide-meaning.html">naide ないで</a> for details.In some rare cases, the word無い is an adjective meaning "nonexistent" instead of an auxiliary adjective that makes negative forms that deny stuff.Now, if you are like me, an average Joe, I'm pretty sure this is the first time in the year you see the word "nonexistent" being used. This is because when something is "nonexistent" you don't say it is "nonexistent," you say something else. See:See? It's all matter of how you translate things. That's whyis so confusing. You can translate it in a way it's closer to Japanese, then you get to see's real meaning, or you can translate it in a way it makes sense in English, then you a bunch of random words inserted in the phrase.By the way, the antonym of無い would be在る. Which is weird, because one is an adjective, the other is a verb. It makes no sense but it's true. See:You can only tell it in phrases like the above. Most of the time,ある is written without the. One common word with the在る, "to exist," kanji is存在, "existence," which only serves to show how these two(在 and 無) are pretty much antonyms.By the way, the antonym of無い would be有る. Which is weird, because I already wrote this before?Oh! <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/same-word-different-kanji.html">The kanji is different!</a> See, what happens is that在る means "to exist," but有る means "to have" a possession. Since they're antonyms, that means無い can also mean "to not have" a possession.Sometimes, the wordない is used when someone is presented with such an absurd idea the only response they can have for it is:This one can be a bit tricky to get since the wordis alone, showing up out of the blue.More technically, it's an answer to the question: is this okay? Proper? Valid? Possible? Is something like this even allowed? Nope! No way! "That's!!"By the way, the opposite would beあり. This one usually shows up when someone questions the legality of an absurd situation. Specially when there are rules in place, or one assumes there should be rules against something because of how absurd it is.For example, in a 1-vs-1 robot-fighting championship, can a robot be actually two robots that split in two mid-fight turning it into a 2-x-1 fight?In manga and anime, it tends to show up when an opponent has some technique that seems to be "against the rules," even in contexts like wars, etc. where there aren't any actual rules in place. The enemy ability is so bizarre the character questions how something like that can be allowed.It can also happen when the characters come up with a dubious solution for a problem that makes people question whether something like that is legitimate. Not from a police point of view, just from a "is the author even allowed to do this?" point of view.The word無 isn't a word. It's a prefix.As you can see, it's <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/same-kanji-different-word.html">written with the same kanji</a> as無い. Buthas the <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/kunyomi-meaning.html">kun'yomi reading</a> whilehas the <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/onyomi-meaning.html">on'yomi reading</a> . The <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/kanji-meanings.html">meaning of the kanji</a> stays the same, however: "nonexistent."When無 is part of a word, it basically makes whatever the rest of themean nonexistent. For example:An interesting thing is that for some words you actually have antonyms featuring antonymfrom before.The wordない can be written in two ways:ない and無い. <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/words-written-with-kanji.html">With kanji</a> and <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/words-written-without-kanji.html">without kanji</a> . But why is that? What's the difference between ない and 無い?It's simple, really. Whenない is used as an auxiliary adjective, which is almost always, it's written withoutWhenない is a normal adjective, meaning "nonexistent," itbe written with. That doesn't mean it will be written with, it just means it's allowed to write it withthen.This happens because it's an orthographic rule that auxiliaries are always supposed to be written without. The same thing happens with <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/07/dekiru-meaning-japanese.html">dekiru できる</a> , for example, which is spelled withoutwhen it's the potential for, but can be spelled出来る when it means "made of."Since you can putない after i-adjectives to negate them andない is an-adjective itself, it makes sense that, grammatically, you can addtoitself, creating, a double negative.Likewise, you can add aない toなくない, creating atriple-negative aberration, because why not?And yeah, of course you can add aない toなくなくない too, obviously, I mean, that's just, a quadruple-negative monstrosity, no big deal.And if you are wondering: is there even a point in doing this? Or: do Japanese natives even do this? The answer is easy: OF COURSE THEY DON'T DO THIS BECAUSE THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NO POINT IN DOING THIS AT ALL!!!!1I mean, yeah,, it makes sense, in every other manner of speaking, however, it makes no sense. Why would you even do any of this? So don't do any of this. This kind of negative suffix stacking only ever shows up jokingly.</div>

Nai ない, 無い

nai. It appears after the particles dewa では, dewanai ではない, after verbs, shinjirarenai 信じられない, and sometimes completely alone, just nai 無い. So, the question is: what does nai mean in Japanese? And why …

23 Dec 2018

No-Adjectives in Japanese

<div>no-adjective refers to <a></a>no の particle after a noun. Generally speaking, "noun-no-noun" uses the first noun to describe the second noun somehow. This is also called the "genitive case." 
 

Anime: Zombieland Saga
<ul>
<li>Densetsu no Yamada Tae 
伝説の山田たえ 
The Legendary Yamada Tae.</li>
<ul>
<li>densetsu 伝説 
Legend.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
 
The term "no-adjective" is mostly used when teaching Japanese to non-native speakers, because a noun marked by the genitive case-marking particle no の acts like an adjective. 
 
There doesn't seem to be a Japanese equivalent for this term. Some books don't use the term at all. Furthermore, no-adjectives can be used in a hundred different ways, so it'd be very difficult to explain what is a no-adjective exactly, and perhaps even a futile effort. 
 
Anyways: 
 
<a name="more"></a><h2 id="genitive-case">
Genitive Case</h2>
The term "genitive case" refers to having a noun as modifying another word, usually a noun. That is, having a noun as adjective. In English, this is usually associated with the "possessive" case, in which a noun possesses the other. For example: 
<ul>
<li>shiro 城 
Castle.</li>
<li>ugoku shiro 動く城 
Castle that moves.</li>
<li>Hauru no Ugoku Shiro ハウルの動く城 
The Castle that Moves of Howl. 
Howl's Moving Castle.</li>
</ul>
 
However, the genitive case isn't limited only to possessions. The translation above using "of" and the contraction "'s" will not work for all cases. For example, sometimes the genitive describes what something is or is made of: 
<ul>
<li>gin 銀 
Silver.</li>
<li>saji 匙 
Spoon.</li>
<li>Gin no Saji 銀の匙 
Spoon of Silver. 
Silver's Spoon. (wrong!) 
Spoon made of Silver. 
Spoon that is Silver. 
Silver Spoon. (right!)</li>
</ul>
 
There's no way to tell what variant of the genitive case a no-adjective is just by looking at it. You have to guess from context and from the nouns involved. 
<h3 id="ambiguity-of-no-adjectives">
Ambiguity of No-Adjectives</h3>
This means that there's ambiguity on what no の really means in a phrase if you don't have necessary context. And it means that a same phrase no の phrase can mean two different things in two different contexts where they have two different variants of the genitive case. For example: 
<ul>
<li>onna 女 
Woman.</li>
<li>ko 子 
Child. (<a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/03/ko-meaning.html">ko 子</a> has other meanings too.)</li>
<li>onna no ko 女の子</li>
</ul>
 
When we try to connect onna to ko, our first guess is probably going to be the possessive: "the child of a woman," that is, "a woman's child." However, the term onna no ko normally means "a child that is a woman," instead. In other words: a "girl." 
 
That isn't to say onna no ko always means "girl." It usually means "girl." 
<ul>
<li>ano onna no ko あの女の子 
That girl.</li>
</ul>
 
But say you're reading a manga and a character says the phrase above while he pointing at an elder woman. Naturally, an elder isn't a "child that is a woman," so "that girl" doesn't work here. Instead, we'd have to interpret it as: 
<ul>
<li>ano onna あの女 
That woman...</li>
<li>no ko の子 
...'s child.</li>
</ul>
 
Although the above is a rather far-fetched example, it illustrates that the same no-adjective can mean two different things in two different contexts. 
<ul>
<li>Pikaso no e ピカソの絵 
A picture of Picasso. (it features him.) 
Picasso's picture. (he bought that picture.) 
A picture made by Picasso. (he drew it.)</li>
<li>erufu no hanashi エルフの話 
A story about elves. (an Elven tale.) 
The story told by the elf. (he just told you about hitting an arrow into another arrow. He looked real proud of himself.)</li>
</ul>
 
Of course, even if such ambiguity didn't exist, there's still the ambiguity of <a></a><a></a> 
<ul>
<li>neko no mimi 猫の耳 
The ear of the cat. 
The ear of a cat. 
The ear of the cats. 
The ear of cats. 
A ear of the cat. 
A ear of a cat. 
A ear of the cats. 
A ear of cats. 
The ears of the cat. 
The ears of a cat. 
The ears of the cats. 
The ears of cats. 
Ears of the cat. 
Ears of a cat. 
Ears of the cats. 
Ears of cats. 
The cat's ear. 
The cat's ears. 
A cat's ear. 
A cat's ears. 
The cats' ear. 
The cats' ears. 
Cats' ear. 
Cats' ears.</li>
</ul>
 
But not everything is an ambiguous Asiatic nightmare. Japanese words do tend to make sense and follow a semblance of logic, and no-adjectives often mean the same thing in different contexts. 
<ul>
<li>Zeruda no Densetsu ゼルダの伝説 
The Legend of Zelda.</li>
<li>Densetsu no Yamada Tae 伝説の山田たえ 
The Yamada Tae who is a Legend. 
The Legendary Yamada Tae!!!1</li>
<li>Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu 伝説の勇者の伝説 
The Legend of Heroes who are Legends. 
The Legend of Legendary Heroes.</li>
</ul>
 
On the other hand, English and Japanese are still different languages. So sometimes even if two no-adjectives work the same way, the way they become translated to English is different. Which is just another reason why you shouldn't rely on translations too much. 
 

Anime: Zombieland Saga
<ul>
<li>nazo no aidoru 
purodhuusaa!! 
Tatsumi Koutarou!! 
謎のアイドル　プロデューサー！！　巽幸太郎！！ 
The mysterious idol producer!! Tatsumi Koutarou!!</li>
</ul>
 
In the phrase above, the word "mystery," nazo 謎, became "mysterious," nazo no 謎の. This is the exact same function of the word "legendary" that came from "legend." 
 
Note that in English "mystery" got an "-ious" suffix, while legend got an "-ary" suffix. In Japanese we simply added a no の both times. So the way you translate the no-adjective to English varies depending on the noun even when it performs the same function. 
<h3 id="noun-compounds">
Noun Compounds</h3>
Sometimes, a noun works as an adjective for a second noun without the no の particle. That is, it's a noun right next another noun. 
 
For example, <a></a>neko no mimi 猫の耳. 
<h4 id="kanji-compounds">
Kanji Compounds</h4>
Noun compounds are not to be confused with kanji compounds, which are words composed of more than one kanji. 
 
For example, <a></a>kanji, but is just one noun. 
 
Furthermore, each kanji of a kanji compound may have its own <a></a><a></a>baka 馬鹿 is composed by morphemes that mean "horse," uma 馬, and "deer," shika 鹿, for example. 
 
There are also cases like joshi 女子, which is <a></a>onna no ko 女の子. Its kanji have different <a></a>joshi and onna no ko can be translated as "girl," joshi is usually older than onna no ko, which is used toward young children. 
<h2 id="examples-of-usage">
Examples of Usage</h2>
For reference, some examples of how no-adjectives are used to help you understand them. 
<h3 id="chart">
Chart</h3>
Here's a chart of no-adjectives' functions, summarizing it all. 
 
<h3 id="possessive-case">
Possessive Case</h3>
The most common usage of no-adjectives is talk about possessions. The no particle marks the possessor, and what comes after is the possession, sometimes called the possessee. 
<ul>
<li>Possessor no Possession</li>
<li>Possessor's Possession</li>
<li>Possession of Possessor.</li>
</ul>
 
Note that normally when you think of the word "possession" you think of a physical object that can be taken away. This isn't always the case with possessive adjectives. Possessives can refer to attributes and concepts that don't exist physically but are "of" somebody or something. 
 
That said, not everything that is "of" is a possession. A spoon of silver is "of" silver, but you can't say "silver has a spoon," so it isn't one of silver's possession. Meanwhile, "silver has a conductivity," so that's a possession, and you can say "conductivity of silver." 
<ul>
<li>Nihon no jinkou 日本の人口 
The population of Japan. Japan's population. 
(Japan has a population.)</li>
<li>anime no rekishi アニメの歴史 
The history of anime. Anime's history. 
(anime has a history.)</li>
<li>tatemono no takasa 建物の高さ 
The tall-ness of a building. The building's tall-ness. 
The height of the building. 
(buildings have heights.)</li>
<li>kuruma no hayasa 車の速さ 
The fast-ness of cars. The cars' fast-ness. 
The speed of the car. The car's speed. 
(cars have speeds.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. 
(Haruhi has melancholy.)</li>
<li>Koe no Katachi 聲の形 
The Shape of Voice. 
(the voice has a shape.) 
(English title: A Silent Voice.)</li>
<li>JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 
The Bizarre Adventure of JoJo. 
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. 
(JoJo has a bizarre adventure.)</li>
<li>Berusaiyu no Bara ベルサイユのばら 
Versailles no Bara ベルサイユのばら 
The Rose of Versailles. The Versailles' Rose. 
(the Versailles has a rose.)</li>
<li>Mahoutsukai no Yome 魔法使いの嫁 
The Bride of the Magic-User. The Magician's Bride. 
(the magic-user has a bride.) 
(English title: The Ancient Magus' Bride)</li>
<li>Bakemono no Ko バケモノの子 
Child of a Beast. A Beast's Child. 
(the beast has a child.) 
(English title: The Boy and the Beast.)</li>
<li>Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou 男子高校生の日常 
The Daily Lives of High School Boys. 
(high school boys have daily lives.)</li>
<li>Saiki Kusuo no Sainan 斉木楠雄のΨ難 
The disasters of Saiki Kusuo. 
(Saiki Kusuo has disasters.) 
(English title: The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.)</li>
<ul>
<li>sainan 災難, "disaster," is stylized as sainan Ψ難, or psi-nan, in this title because Saiki is a psychic and the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet, Ψ, is called psi.</li>
</ul>
<li>Zero no Tsukaima ゼロの使い魔 
The Familiar of Zero. 
(Zero has a familiar.)</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="possessive-personal-pronouns">
Possessive Personal Pronouns</h4>
The no particle is often used to make possessives out of <a></a> 
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/08/watashi-boku-ore-meaning.html">watashi</a> no neko 私の猫 
(I have a cat.) 
My cat.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/10/kare-kareshi-kanojo-meaning.html">kanojo</a> no tanjoubi 彼女の誕生日 
(she has a birthday.) 
Her birthday.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/08/anata-omae-kimi-kisama-meaning.html">Kimi</a> no Na wa. 君の名は。 
(you have a name.) 
Your Name.</li>
<li>omae no doriru wa ten wo tsuki-yaburu doriru nanda yo! 
お前のドリルは天を突き破るドリルなんだよ！ 
Your drill is the drill to pierce through the heavens!</li>
<li>Boku no Hiiroo Akademia 僕のヒーローアカデミア 
Boku no Hero Academia 僕のヒーローアカデミア 
(I have a hero academia.) 
My Hero Academia.</li>
<li>Bokurano 僕らの 
(we have a... something?) 
 Ours.</li>
<li>Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai 俺の妹がこんなに可愛いわけがない 
(I have a little sister.) 
It Can't Be That My Little Sister is This Cute.</li>
</ul>
 
The no particle is also embedded in the demonstrative pronouns <a></a><a></a> 
<ul>
<li>kore これ 
This. (noun.)</li>
<li>kono この 
This. (adjective.)</li>
<li>kore neko これ猫 
This = cat. 
[Hey!] This [thing is a] cat!</li>
<li>kono neko この猫 
This cat. 
This cat [right here.]</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="places-and-residency">
Places & Residency</h3>
Places are a tricky kind of noun. Most of the time, places are possessions. You own a place. 
<ul>
<li>Houseki no Kuni 宝石の国 
The Jewels have a Country. 
The Country of Jewels. 
The Jewels' Country. 
(English title: Land of the Lustrous)</li>
<li>Doruaaga no Tou ドルアーガの塔 
Druaga no Tou ドルアーガの塔 
Druaga has a Tower. 
Tower of Druaga. 
Druaga's Tower.</li>
</ul>
 
But, thousands of years of human civilization aside, what makes it so you can claim you "own" a place? Do you own land just by putting a flag on it? If you live in a house, does it automatically make it your house? 
<ul>
<li>ninja no sato 忍者の里 
The ninjas' village. 
The village owned by ninjas. 
The village where ninjas reside.</li>
</ul>
 
At first glance, there's not much difference between one and other. But consider the following phrase: 
<ul>
<li>Piano no Mori ピアノの森 
The Piano's Forest. 
The forest owned by the piano...? 
The forest where the piano resides.</li>
</ul>
 
The concept of a piano owning a forest is ridiculous. Therefore, the phrase must mean that there's a piano in the forest, hence why it's the piano's forest: it's the forest in which the piano resides. 
 
In English, we can also use noun compounds when something resides in something. For example: 
<ul>
<li>ninja no sato 忍者の里 
The ninja village 
The village in which there are ninjas.</li>
<li>Piano no Mori ピアノの森 
The Piano Forest 
The forest in which there is a piano.</li>
</ul>
 
This is similar to how a "juice box" is a box that contains juice, not a box owned by juice. 
 
Also, in English, we can inflect the noun into an adjective instead of using noun compounds. For example: 
<ul>
<li>erufu no mori エルフの森 
The elves' forest. The forest owned by the elves. 
The elf's forest. The forest owned by a specific elf 
The elf forest. The forest in which there are elves. 
The elven forest. A forest of the elves.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="usage-with-numbers">
Usage With Numbers</h3>
The no-adjectives can be used with <a></a><a></a> 
<ul>
<li>ippiki 一匹 
One small animal.</li>
<li>ippiki no neko 一匹の猫 
Cats in quantity of one small animal. 
One cat.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>hitotsu. futatsu. 一つ。二つ。 
One of a thing. Two of a thing.</li>
<li>futatsu no sekai 二つの世界 
Worlds in quantity of two. 
Two worlds.</li>
<ul>
<li>Another way to interpret this phrase would be: 
The world possessed by two things.</li>
</ul>
<li>mou hitotsu no sekai もう一つの世界 
One more world.</li>
<li>Nanatsu no Taizai ７つの大罪 
Great Sins in Quantity of Seven. 
The Seven Deadly Sins.</li>
</ul>
 
This also works for nouns that imply vague numbers. 
<ul>
<li>kazukazu no tatakai 数々の戦い 
Battles in numerous quantity. 
Numerous battles.</li>
<li>taihan no hito 大半の人 
People of the majority quantity. 
The majority of people. Most people.</li>
</ul>
 
Another way no-adjectives and numbers relate are in partitives. 
<h3 id="partitive">
Partitive</h3>
When the possession is a number, the no-adjective may form a partitive: a phrase that describes a portion of a whole. For example: 
<ul>
<li>keeki no hitokire ケーキの一切れ 
One slice of cake.</li>
<li>jinrui no go-wari wa josei 人類の５割は女性 
 Five-tenths of the human race are female.</li>
<ul>
<li>jinrui 人類 
Human race. Humankind.</li>
<li>wari 割 
Proportion. Part. 
A tenth. N tenths. (when used as a counter.)</li>
</ul>
<li>mondai no ichibu de shika nai 問題の一部でしかない 
It's but one part of the question.</li>
</ul>
 
The above are what are called "entity partitives," since we're talking about a percentage of a whole. (a percentage of a cake, the human race, or the question.) 
 
Another type of partitives are the "set partitives," where we talk about a number of individual units from a larger set of units. For example: 
<ul>
<li>neko no ippiki 猫の一匹 
One of the cats.</li>
</ul>
 
The above can mean "one of the cats" of a defined group, like you had four cats and something happened to one of the four. 
 
It can also simply mean "one cat" without implying that there's a group or anything because you can also interpret it like: 
<ul>
<li>neko no ippiki 猫の一匹 
Given literally all cats in the whole world—no, the whole universe!—we're talking about one single one of them. 
One small animal, that is a cat.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="no-hitotsu">
No Hitotsu の一つ</h4>
The phrase no hitotsu の一つ means "one of." It's commonly used when you're talking of "one of" many things. For example: 
<ul>
<li>shitto wa nanatsu no taizai no hitotsu 嫉妬は７つの大罪の一つ 
Envy is one of the seven deadly sins.</li>
<li>gen'in no hitotsu 原因の一つ 
 One of the causes. (there are many causes.)</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="no-hitotsu-ya-futatsu">
No Hitotsu ya Futatsu のひとつやふたつ</h4>
The expression no hitotsu ya futatsu のひとつやふたつ, meaning "one, two, [or more] of," is generally used when talking about something you're supposed to have at least one of. Specially when that's obvious, or expected, or maybe when someone assumed the opposite. 
<ul>
<li>hissatsu waza no hitotsu ya futatsu 必殺技のひとつやふたつ 
One or two sure-kill techniques, [or more!] 
(What do you mean you have no sure-kill techniques? Every battle manga main character has least one sure-kill technique!)</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="no-hitori">
No Hitori の一人</h4>
The phrase no hitori の一人 also means "one of," but is used toward people instead. 
<ul>
<li>ninja no hitori 忍者の一人 
One person of the ninjas. 
One of the ninjas.</li>
<li>kazoku no hitori 家族の一人 
One person of the family.</li>
</ul>
 
Of course, you can interpret these as attributives instead of partitives: 
<ul>
<li>One person that is a ninja. 
One ninja.</li>
<li>One person that is part of the family. 
One family member.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="members-of-groups">
Members of Groups</h4>
Although not exactly the same thing, no-adjectives can be used similarly to indicate someone is a member of a given group. For example: 
<ul>
<li>Koodo Giasu: Hangyaku no Ruruushu コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ 
Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ 
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. 
(Lelouch is a member of the rebellion.)</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="no-between-family-name-and-given-name">
No の Between Family Name and Given Name</h4>
Similarly, in archaic Japanese, sometimes somebody's name is written with a no の between the family name and their given name, as if the family was a group they were a member of. For example: 
<ul>
<li>Nasu Yoichi 那須与一</li>
<li>Nasu no Yoichi 那須の与一 
Yoichi of the Nasu family.</li>
<li>Kiyohara Fukayabu 清原深養父</li>
<li>Kiyohara no Fukayabu 清原の深養父 
Fukayabu of the Kiyohara family.</li>
</ul>
 
To be honest I'm not sure if these are family names or clan names, and if they are given names or aliases. Japan was full of name-switching traditions. 
 
For reference: 
<ul>
<li><a href="https://matome.naver.jp/odai/2139746828816552001">昔の人の名前で源と書いて「みなもとの」と読むのはなぜ？ - matome.naver.jp</a> [accessed in 2018-11-08] 
A compilation of information about this.</li>
<li><a href="http://ypir.lib.yamaguchi-u.ac.jp/bg/file/463/20170209091741/BG70011000006.pdf">天草本平家物語における・主格表現—格助詞「の」「が」を中心に— - ypir.lib.yamaguchi-u.ac.jp</a> [accessed in 2018-11-08] 
An analysis of the usage of the no の and ga が particles in The Tale of the Heike.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="omission-in-names">
Omission in Names</h3>
In Japanese, names of people are traditionally written with kanji only, no hiragana. Since the no の particle is written with hiragana, it may be left unwritten in some names of people. That is, it gets read as if it was there, but isn't spelled. 
 
Literally. 
 
For example: 
<ul>
<li>ki 木 
Tree.</li>
<li>shita 下 
Below.</li>
<li>kinoshita 木の下 
Under a tree.</li>
<li>Kinoshita Toukichirou 木の下藤吉郎 
(becomes written as...)</li>
<li>Kinoshita Toukichirou 木下藤吉郎 
(Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豊臣秀吉, a warrior samurai general of the 16th century, was also known by this name.)</li>
<ul>
<li>Note that the name is ki-no-shita 木下 not ki-shita 木下. The no の is unwritten.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<h3 id="aspect-and-categorization">
Aspect & Categorization</h3>
Another common use of no-adjectives is to describe things by their aspects. If you have a noun that works as a quality of something, adding the no particle turns it into a category-like word that classifies the following noun. For example: 
<ul>
<li>ryouri no hon 料理の本 
A book of cooking. A book about cooking. 
A cooking book.</li>
<li>jikan no mondai 時間の問題 
A question of time. A matter of time. 
A time matter.</li>
<li>kane no mondai 金の問題 
A question of money. A matter of money. 
A money matter.</li>
<li>manga no egakikata 漫画の描き方 
The way-of-drawing of manga. 
A way to draw manga. How to draw manga.</li>
<li>hyaku nana-juu senti no <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/02/dakimakura-meaning.html">dakimakura</a> kabaa 170cmの抱き枕カバー 
A daki that measures 170cm. 
A 170cm daki.</li>
<li>kagebunshin no jutsu 影分身の術 
Technique of the shadow clone type. 
Shadow clone technique.</li>
<li>honoo no <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/05/mahou-majutsu-majo-meaning.html">mahou</a> 炎の魔法 
Magic of flame. Magic that casts a ball of fire. 
Fire magic.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Toaru <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/05/mahou-majutsu-majo-meaning.html">Majutsu</a> no Index とある魔術の禁書目録（インデックス） 
A Certain Index of Magic. 
A Certain Magical Index.</li>
<ul>
<li>indekkusu インデックス is the <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/katakanization-meaning.html">katakanization</a> of "index," used as <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/gikun-reading-meaning.html">gikun 義訓</a> for "banned books' index," kinsho mokuroku 禁書目録.</li>
</ul>
<li>Aku no Hana 惡の華 
The Flower of Evil. 
The Evil Flower.</li>
<li>Kara no Kyoukai 空の境界 
The Boundary of the Emptiness. 
The Empty Boundary. 
(English title: The Garden of the Sinners.)</li>
<ul>
<li>karappo 空っぽ 
Empty. Vacant. Hollow.</li>
</ul>
<li>Hokuto no Ken 北斗の拳 
The Fist of the North Star. 
The North Star-Style Fist. (as in, martial arts.)</li>
<ul>
<li>Hokuto 北斗 seems to refer to the Big Dipper, a group of stars from Ursa Major, which means Fist of the North Star and Gravity Falls are in a way related to each other.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<h4 id="material-and-composition">
Material & Composition</h4>
As you'd expect, this includes specifying of what something is made of. 
<ul>
<li>dou no yoroi 銅の鎧 
Armor made of copper. 
Copper armor.</li>
<li>chi to namida no kesshou 血と涙の結晶 
A crystallization made of blood and tears. 
The fruits of your sacrifices and hard work.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Hagane no Renkinjutsushi 鋼の錬金術師 
The Alchemist made of Steel. 
The Steel Alchemist. 
(English title: Fullmetal Alchemist.)</li>
<li>Hai to Gensou no Gurimugaru 灰と幻想のグリムガル 
Hai to Gensou no Grimgar 灰と幻想のグリムガル 
The Grimgar Made of Ashes and Illusions. 
(English title: Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions)</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="region-and-origin">
Region & Origin</h4>
The aspect may also be the region something is from, its origin. In English, we sometimes have separate adjective words to mean something "comes from" somewhere. For example: 
<ul>
<li>Itaria no piza イタリアのピザ 
Pizza of Italy. 
Italy's pizza. 
Italian pizza.</li>
<li>nihon no hito 日本の人 
People of Japan. 
Japanese people.</li>
<ul>
<li>When referring to people of countries, usually you use a noun compound suffixed by a <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/10/hito-nin-jin-difference.html">-jin ～人</a> <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/morphemes.html">morpheme</a> instead. See:</li>
<li>nihonjin 日本人 
Japanese person. Japanese people.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>taiyou no tsubasa 太陽の翼 
Wings of Sun. 
Solar wings.</li>
<li>taiyou no te wo motsu shounen 太陽の手を持つ少年 
The boy who had hands of Sun. 
The boy who had Solar hands.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Shidonia no Kishi シドニアの騎士 
The Knights of Sidonia. 
The Sidonian Knights.</li>
<li>Higashi no Eden 東のエデン 
The Eden of the East. 
The Eastern Eden.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="colors">
Colors</h4>
The <a></a> 
<ul>
<li>aoi 青い 
Blue. (i-adjective.)</li>
<li>ao 青 
Blue. (noun.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>kuroi 黒い 
Black. (i-adjective.)</li>
<li>kuro 黒 
Black. (noun.)</li>
</ul>
 
This means there are two ways to describe something by color. For examples, to say a "white rose," you can say: 
<ul>
<li>shiroi bara 白いバラ 
shiro no bara 白のバラ 
White rose.</li>
</ul>
 
Both mean the same thing, they both describe a white rose. If there is a difference, it's in usage. Generally speaking, the i-adjective version of colors sound indefinite, while the the no-adjective versions sound finite. 
<ul>
<li>shiroi bara 白いバラ 
A white rose. Some white roses.</li>
<li>shiro no bara 白のバラ 
THE Rose OF THE White Color. 
THE White Rose.</li>
</ul>
 
And so the no-adjective variants end up showing in titles of anime more than the less definite sounding i-adjective variants. 
<ul>
<li>Ao no Exorcist 青の祓魔師（エクソシスト） 
The Exorcist of Blue. 
The Exorcist of the Blue Color. 
The Blue Exorcist.</li>
<ul>
<li>ekusoshisuto エクソシスト is the <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/katakanization-meaning.html">katakanization</a> of the English word "exorcist," used as <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/gikun-reading-meaning.html">gikun 義訓</a> for the Japanese word "exorcist," futsumashi 祓魔師.</li>
</ul>
<li>Konjiki no Gasshu!! 金色のガッシュ!! 
The Gash of the Golden Color. 
The Golden Gash.</li>
<li>Darker than BLACK -Kuro no Keiyakusha- -黒の契約者- 
The Contractor of the Black Color. 
The Black Contractor.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="direct-attributes">
Direct Attributes</h3>
A rather distinct kind of no-adjective are no-adjectives that mean direct attributives of things, and that can therefore be used in the predicative, right before the da だ copula. For example: 
<ul>
<li>byouki 病気 
Sick.</li>
<li>byouki no hito 病気の人 
 Sick person.</li>
<li>kono hito ga byouki da この人が病気だ 
This person is sick.</li>
</ul>
 
At first glance there isn't a lot of difference, but consider the following: 
<ul>
<li>ryouri no hon 料理の本 
Cooking book. 
Book about cooking.</li>
</ul>
 
We can say a book is of cooking the way above. This is an indirect attributive. We know it's indirect because the predicative form doesn't make sense: 
<ul>
<li>kono hon ga ryouri da この本が料理だ 
This book is cooking. 
(what.)</li>
</ul>
 
The important thing about no-adjectives that are direct attributives is that they can behave like na-adjectives grammatically. In which case the no の is sometimes analyzed as an attributive copula, just like na な. 
 
For example, this means we can use the attributive past of na-adjectives with a no-adjective: 
<ul>
<li>byouki datta hito 病気だった人 
A person that was sick.</li>
<li>byouki denai hito 病気でない人 
A person that isn't sick.</li>
</ul>
 
Some other examples of direct no-adjectives: 
<ul>
<li>kono mangekyou <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/08/sharingan-byakugan-rinnegan-meaning.html">sharingan</a> ga eien da この万華鏡写輪眼が永遠だ 
This Mangekyou Sharingan is eternal.</li>
<li>eien no mangekyou sharingan 永遠の万華鏡写輪眼 
 Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Sakasama no Patema サカサマのパテマ 
Patema that is inverted. 
Inverted Patema.</li>
<ul>
<li>Title of an anime movie. Patema is a protagonist.</li>
<li>sakasama 逆様 was <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/words-written-with-katakana.html">written in katakana</a>, probably because <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/aesthetics-hiragana-katakana-kanji.html">katakana looks cooler</a> and it's a science fiction movie.</li>
</ul>
<li>Patema ga sakasama da パテマがサカサマだ 
Patema is inverted. 
Patema is upside down.</li>
</ul>
 
Note that some of these adjectives aren't usually used in the predicative. For example: 
<ul>
<li>shin no sugata 真の姿 
Form that's real. Form that's true. 
Real form. True form.</li>
<ul>
<li>E.g. one's final form, monstrous, powerful, as opposed to the feeble humanoid disguise.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
 
Although shin 真 means "real" or "true," it's normally used as shin no 真の, "true [something]," rather than "[something] is true," something ga shin da ◯が真だ. 
<h4 id="superlatives">
Superlatives</h4>
Adjectives that are superlatives also fit this category. 
<ul>
<li>Shijou Saikyou no Deshi Ken'ichi 史上最強の弟子 ケンイチ 
The Disciple that is the Strongest in History: Ken'ichi. 
History's Strongest Disciple: Ken'ichi. 
(English title: KenIchi: The Mightiest Disciple.)</li>
<li>Hajime no Ippo はじめの一歩 
The First Single-Step. 
The First Step. 
(English title: Fighting Spirit.)</li>
<ul>
<li>Ippo is also the name of the protagonist, making the Japanese title a word-play.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<h3 id="apposition">
Apposition</h3>
Apposition, or doukaku 同格, refers to when you have two phrases that refer to the same thing one beside the other. In English, we usually introduce an apposition with a comma, but we can use the preposition "of," which's what we for our genitive case, to do it too. 
 
In Japanese, a no-adjective can be part of an appositive in a way similar to the "of" preposition. 
 
For example: 
<ul>
<li>nihon 日本 
Japan.</li>
<li>nihon no kuni wa... 日本の国は… 
Japan, the country, [is]... 
The country, Japan, [is]... 
The country of Japan [is]...</li>
</ul>
 
There isn't much apposition can do that can't already be understood by other functions of the no-particle shown so far. So let's focus on what's new: it explains the way the no-adjective is used with family members. 
<ul>
<li>otouto no Sasuke 弟のサスケ</li>
<li>Sasuke of the younger brother.</li>
<ul>
<li>This is probably not what the phrase means, as it implies Sasuke is a possession of somebody's younger brother.</li>
</ul>
<li>Sasuke that is the younger brother.</li>
<ul>
<li>This is better, but using "that" there introduces a restrictive adjectival clause: it's saying that there might be a second Sasuke that's not the younger brother so we must specify we're talking about the Sasuke that IS the younger brother, which's likely unnecessary.</li>
</ul>
<li>Sasuke, the younger brother.</li>
<ul>
<li>Perfect! This is an appositive: Sasuke is the younger brother, the younger brother is Sasuke. We all know who we're talking about!</li>
</ul>
</ul>
 
A lot of times appositives aren't translated as appositives, though. Probably because a lot of times it sounds weird. 
<ul>
<li>Tonari no Totoro となりのトトロ 
Totoro, the Neighbor. 
The Neighbor, Totoro. 
(English title: My Neighbor Totoro.)</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="directions">
Directions</h3>
The no の particle can be used with directional words like <a></a>no-adjective, it refers to a direction away from the qualifier. If it's part of the no-adjective, it qualifies where the noun is. For example: 
<ul>
<li>karada no migi 体の右 
The right of the body. The body's right. 
The right side of the body.</li>
<li>hidari no te 左の手 
The hand of the left. The hand of the left side. 
The left hand.</li>
</ul>
 
When up and down are involved, they often translate to above, atop, under, bottom, and so on. 
<ul>
<li>beddo no ue ベッドの上 
The above of the bed. The bed's above. 
Atop the bed. On the bed. Over the bed.</li>
<li>beddo no shita ベッドの下 
The below of the bed. The bed's below. 
Under the bed.</li>
</ul>
 
Also, if the ue or shita come before the no when talking about people, it usually carries an hierarchical meaning. 
<ul>
<li>ue no mono 上の者 
A person of above. Above's person. 
A superior. (e.g. I need to confirm with my superior.)</li>
</ul>
 
Of course, there are other directions besides up, down, left and right, like <a></a> 
<ul>
<li>mori no kita 森の北 
North of the forest.</li>
<li>hako no naka 箱の中 
Inside the box.</li>
<li>ie no soto 家の外 
Outside of the house.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Kyoukai no Kanata 境界の彼方 
That Side of the Boundary. 
(English title: Beyond the Boundary.)</li>
<ul>
<li>kanata 彼方 
That side. That direction. That way. 
Written with the kanji for "that" and "direction," hou 方. 
By the way, did you know that kanojo 彼女, "she," is literally "that woman"? Because kanokuni 彼の国 means "that country." And asoko written with kanji is asoko 彼処, literally "that" and "place," tokoro 処.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<h4 id="densetsu-no-kinoshita">
Densetsu no Ki no Shita 伝説のキノシタ</h4>

Anime: Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu バカとテストと召喚獣 
(Episode 5)
<ul>
<li>Context: Akihisa confesses to Hideyoshi.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Akihisa:</li>
<li>Hideyoshi! suki jaa! 
秀吉！好きじゃー！ 
Hideyoshi! [I like you]!</li>
<ul>
<li>jaa じゃー 
The copula da だ pronounced euphorically.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Hideyoshi:</li>
<li>ikinari nani wo ii-dasu-n-ja?! 
いきなり何を言い出すんじゃ？！ 
What are you saying all of sudden?!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Akihisa:</li>
<li>kore niwa juudai na imi ga aru-n-da! 
これには重大な意味があるんだ！ 
There's an important meaning [behind] this!</li>
<li>Hideyoshi wa shiranai kamoshirenai kedo 
秀吉は知らないかもしれないけど 
Hideyoshi may not know this but,</li>
<li>nihon niwa densetsu no ki no shita de kokuhaku suru to 
shiawase ni nareru to-iu ii-tsutae ga aru 
日本には伝説の木の下で告白すると 
幸せになれるという言い伝えがある 
In Japan there's a folk tale that says if you confess under the legendary tree you'll become blessed.</li>
<ul>
<li>ii-tsutae 言い伝え 
A folk tale. A legend. 
Something that you "pass," tsutaeru 伝える, by "saying" it, iu 言う. In other words, a legend passed down by word of mouth.</li>
<li>shiawase ni nareru 幸せになれる 
May become happy. (literally.) 
But let me translate it as "blessed" here because it's like in "happy ending." 
Although before this scene Akihisa was saying there was "misfortune," or he was "unfortunate," literally "unhappy," fukou 不幸. So this whole development is him trying to fix that by becoming "happy," shiawase 幸せ.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Yuuji interjects:</li>
<li>ii-tsutae janai ga na... 言い伝えじゃないがな… 
It's not a legend, though...</li>
<ul>
<li>Because it's probably a reference to the 1996 dating sim game:</li>
<li>Tokimeki Memoriaru: Densetsu no Ki no Shita de 
ときめきメモリアル 伝説の樹の下で 
Tokimeki Memorial: Under the Legendary Tree.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Akihisa:</li>
<li>kono gakuen no densetsu no kinoshita to-ieba 
densetsu-teki na bishoujo 
 Kinoshita Hideyoshi no koto wo sasu! 
この学園の伝説のキノシタといえば 
伝説的な美少女 
木下秀吉の事を指す！ 
In this school, [when we talk about the] 
densetsu no ki no shita ("legendary under a tree") 
[we're talking about] 
the legendary-like beautiful girl 
Kinoshita Hideyoshi!</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>tsumari kore wa 
Hideyoshi ni kokuhaku suru to 
shiawase ni nareru to-iu imi datta-n-da yo! 
つまりこれは 
秀吉に告白すると 
幸せになれるという意味だったんだよ！ 
In other words, this means that... 
if [I] confess to Hideyoshi, 
[I'll] become blessed!</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="verbs-involved-in-genitives">
Verbs Involved in Genitives</h3>
Verbs can be part of genitives in multiple ways, and since the fact a verb is a verb, not a noun, carries some added complexity, I figured they deserve their own section explaining how it works. 
<h4 id="agent-of-action">
Action's Agent</h4>
First off, the agent of an action in a phrase can be part of the genitive in another phrase involving the same action. 
 
Now, to recap: a verb means an action, and an action means an agent doing that action. In active voice, the agent is the subject, who's marked by the ga が particle. 
 
For example, say we have this phrase: 
<ul>
<li>sekai ga owaru 世界が終わる 
The world ends.</li>
<ul>
<li>sekai 世界 
The world.</li>
<li>ga が 
(marks previous word as the subject.)</li>
<li>owaru 終わる 
To end.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
 
Then we change the verb owaru 終わる to its polite masu ます form: 
<ul>
<li>sekai ga owarimasu 世界が終わります 
The world ends. (polite way of saying.)</li>
</ul>
 
Now we replace the subject marker ga が with the genitive case marking particle no の and remove the masu suffix leaving only the masu-stem form of the verb owaru, also known as the "connective form," ren'youkei 連用形, which is the form in which the verb is treated as a noun: 
<ul>
<li>sekai no owari 世界の終わり 
The world's ending. 
The ending of the world.</li>
</ul>
 
And there we have it. We change from "the world ends," where we say it's happening, to "the ending of the world," where we merely refer to the happening. 
 
In most cases, the pattern above with the connective form is followed. For example: 
<ul>
<li>sekai ga hajimaru 世界が始まる 
The world begins.</li>
<li>sekai ga hajimarimasu 世界が始まります 
The world begins. (polite.)</li>
<li>sekai no hajimari 世界の始まり 
The world's beginning. 
The beginning of the world.</li>
</ul>
 
Although it's always grammatically correct, a lot of times there are better ways of saying it. For example: 
<ul>
<li>kare ga shinu 彼が死ぬ 
kare ga shinimasu 彼が死にます 
He dies.</li>
<li>kare no shini 彼の死に 
The dying of him. 
His dying. 
(people don't say this.)</li>
<li>kare no shi 彼の死 
His death. (possessive.)</li>
<ul>
<li>Although shi 死, "death," and shinu 死ぬ, "to die," are obviously related, one isn't an inflection of the other, so you won't be able to just remove the <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/okurigana-meaning.html">okurigana</a> of another verb to get the same result.</li>
<li>For example: kaku 書く is "to write," but just ka 書 doesn't mean anything.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
 
With suru verbs, that is, nouns that become verbs by taking the suru auxiliary verb, we can simply remove the suru auxiliary to get the noun. 
<ul>
<li>haha ga kodomo wo ai suru 母が子供を愛する 
The mother loves the child.</li>
<ul>
<li>haha ga 母が 
The mother (subject)</li>
<li>ai 愛 
Love. (noun.)</li>
<li>suru する 
To do.</li>
<li>ai suru 愛する 
To do "love." 
To love.</li>
</ul>
<li>haha no ai 母の愛 
The mother's love. 
The love of the mother. 
The love done by the mother.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>kusuri ga kouka suru 薬が効果する 
The drug effects. The drug has effect.</li>
<li>kusuri no kouka 薬の効果 
The effect of the drug.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>anime ga eikyou suru アニメが影響する 
Anime influences.</li>
<li>anime no eikyou de nihongo wo manabu アニメの影響で日本語を学ぶ 
To study Japanese because of anime's influence.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>hakkekkyuu ga hataraku 白血球 
White-blood cells work. (as in, they function, perform their functions.)</li>
<li>tainai ni shin'nyuu shita byougentai wa 
hakkekkyuu no hataraki ni yotte haijo sareru 
体内に侵入した病原体は 
白血球の働きによって排除される 
The pathogens that infiltrated the inside of the body 
are exterminated by the work of the white-blood cells.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Kino ga Tabi Suru キノが旅する 
Kino Journeys.</li>
<li>Kino no Tabi キノの旅 
Kino's Journey. 
The Journey of Kino.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Kuroko ga Basuke Suru 黒子がバスケする 
Kuroko Baskets. Kuroko does Basket. 
Kuroko Basketballs. Kuroko does Basketball.</li>
<li>Kuroko no Basuke 黒子のバスケ 
Kuroko's Basketball. 
The Basketball of Kuroko.</li>
</ul>
 
And, of course, not even this pattern is free from Japanese's extreme ambiguity. Specially when you can have <a></a><a></a> 
<ul>
<li>riaru リアル 
Real. 
Real life. (as opposed to virtual life.)</li>
<li>juujitsu suru 充実する 
To be complete. To be full. To be replenished.</li>
<li>riajuu リア充 
Someone satisfied with their real life. 
A "normie" to antisocial nerds and internet addicts.</li>
<li>netojuu ネト充 
Someone satisfied with their internet life. 
An internet addict or antisocial nerd to a normie.</li>
<li>Neto-Juu ga Susumeru ネト充が進める 
Someone satisfied with their internet life progresses. 
An internet addict progresses. (as in, toward the recovery of their addiction.)</li>
<li>Neto-Juu ga Susumeru ネト充が勧める 
Someone satisfied with their internet life recommends.</li>
<li>Neto-Juu no Susume ネト充のススメ</li>
</ul><ol>
<li>The Recommendations of Someone Satisfied with their Internet Life.</li>
<li>The Progress of an Internet Addict.</li>
</ol>
<li>(English title: Recovery of an MMO Junkie.)</li>

The title of the anime above can be interpreted in two ways: the main character is having fun with their net-life and is "recommending" things to do if you're an internet addict; or, the main character is sickly addicted to internet and is having "progress" in treating it. 
<h4 id="verb-as-no-adjective">
Verb as No-Adjective</h4>
Sometimes you have a verb that's not modified by a no-adjective but that's actually part of the no-adjective. This is different from the above, and in this case the verb is just a noun. 
<ul>
<li>Owari no Serafu 終わりのセラフ 
Owari no Seraph 終わりのセラフ 
Seraph of the End.</li>
<ul>
<li>Not "The Ending of Seraph," so it doesn't grammatically come from "Seraph ends [something]."</li>
</ul>
</ul>
 
Of course, you can chain multiple no-adjectives too: 
<ul>
<li>{Natsu no Owari} no Amaoto ga 夏の終わりの雨音が 
The Sound-of-Rain of {the Ending of the Summer} [is].</li>
<ul>
<li>Title of a Love Live! song.</li>
</ul>
<li>Natsu no {Owari no Amaoto} ga 夏の終わりの雨音が 
The Summer's {Sound-of-Rain of the End} [is].</li>
<ul>
<li>An unlikely interpretation.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<h4 id="patient-of-action">
Action's Patient</h4>
The genitive can also contain the patient of an action of another phrase. That is, of whom the action is done upon. In active voice, this is the direct object the phrase, marked by the wo を particle. 
<ul>
<li>sentaku 洗濯 
Laundry. 
(not to be confused with the <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/homonyms-in-japanese.html">homonym</a> sentaku 選択, "choice.")</li>
<li>sentaku wo arau 選択を洗う 
To wash laundry.</li>
<li>sentaku no arai 洗濯の洗い 
The washing of laundry [by someone].</li>
</ul>
 
In passive voice, the patient is the subject marked by the ga が particle. 
<ul>
<li>nusumu 盗む 
To steal.</li>
<li>nusumareru 盗まれる 
To be stolen. (passive conjugation.)</li>
<li>houseki ga nusumareru 宝石が盗まれる 
The jewels will be stolen [by someone]. 
The jewels are stolen [by someone.]</li>
<li>houseki no nusumi 宝石の盗み 
The stealing of the jewels [done by someone].</li>
<li>houseki no nusumi ga ooi 宝石の盗みが多い 
[There's] a lot of stealing of the jewels [happening].</li>
<li>houseki no nusumi wa akirameru 宝石の盗みは諦める 
To give up on the stealing of the jewels. 
To give up on stealing the jewels.</li>
</ul>
 
Note that it's actually grammatically impossible to tell apart the agent from the patient genitives. For example: 
<ul>
<li>kodomo no nusumi 子供の盗み 
The stealing of the children.</li>
</ul><ol>
<li>The stealing done by the children. 
Your children stole something!</li>
<li>The stealing done upon the children. 
Someone stole the children!</li>
</ol>

Of course, just because it's grammatically ambiguous doesn't mean that it's ambiguous in practice. In the case above, we can safely assume the children stole something, and not that someone "stole" the children, as that doesn't make much sense. 
<h4 id="ambiguity-of-verb-nouns">
Ambiguity of Verb Nouns</h4>
Not every time you have a verb in its noun form after a no-adjective it's going to be something like the above. After all, Japanese is a language full of ambiguities. For example: 
<ul>
<li>tsukau 使う 
To use.</li>
<li>mahou no tsukai 魔法の使い</li>
</ul><ol>
<li>Use of magic. (unlikely.)</li>
<li>User of magic. (likely.)</li>
</ol>
<li>tsukai 使い</li>
<ol>
<li>Use [of something.]</li>
<li>An user. Someone who uses something.</li>
</ol>
<li>kusari no tsukai 鎖の使い</li>
<ol>
<li>A chain's use. 
(e.g. how Kurapika uses the chain.)</li>
<li>A chain's user. 
(e.g. Kurapika himself.)</li>
</ol>

<h4 id="genitives-and-transitivity">
Genitives and Transitivity</h4>
Beware of the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs, as they affect the genitives that come from them. 
<ul>
<li>tamashii ga kiyomaru 魂が清まる 
The soul cleanses.</li>
<ul>
<li>Agent, intransitive verb.</li>
</ul>
<li>tamashii ga kiyomeru 魂が清める 
The soul cleanses [something].</li>
<ul>
<li>Agent, transitive verb.</li>
</ul>
<li>tamashii ga kiyomerareru 魂が清められる 
The soul is cleansed [by something].</li>
<ul>
<li>Patient.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>tamashii no kiyome 魂の清め 
The cleansing of the soul.</li>
<ul>
<li>Agent: the soul has cleansed something, the phrase refers to "the cleansing" that the soul has inflected upon something.</li>
<li>Patient: the soul has been cleansed by something, the phrase refer to how [you] or [someone] did "the cleansing of the soul."</li>
</ul>
<li>tamashii no kiyomari 魂の清まり 
The cleansing of the soul.</li>
<ul>
<li>Agent: the soul has cleansed, the phrase refers to that fact. It doesn't imply anybody cleansed it, just that it became cleansed: on its own, for example.</li>
<li>No patient form since this comes from an intransitive verb.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
 
Although the difference isn't very big in the end, tamashii no kiyome implies something else is involved in this cleansing business besides the soul: as it must either cleanse something or be cleansed by something. The word kiyomari doesn't carry this implication. 
<h3 id="usage-with-particles">
Particles Particulars</h3>
<h4 id="no-instead-of-ga-in-relative-clauses">
の Instead of が in Relative Clauses</h4>
Sometimes, the no の particle is used instead of the ga が particle to mark the subject of a relative adjectival clause. Although this isn't literally a case of no-adjectives, relative clauses are adjectives, so I feel this should be mentioned in this article too: 
<ul>
<li>kamisama ga Inai 神さまがいない 
God isn't [here.] 
God [doesn't exist.]</li>
<li>kamisama ga Inai Nichiyoubi 神さまがいない日曜日 
The Sunday in which God isn't [here.] 
The Sunday in which God [doesn't exist.] 
The Sundays... (etc.)</li>
<li>Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi 神さまのいない日曜日 
(same as above.) 
(English title: Sunday Without God.)</li>
</ul>
 
For further reference: 
 
<h4 id="ga-instead-of-no-as-possessive-marker">
が Instead of の as Possessive Marker</h4>
Sometimes, the ga が particle is used instead of the no の particle to create a possessive adjective. This usage is rather old, and in modern Japanese it's limited to a few specific cases. 
 
The most common one is the possessive of the first person pronoun <a></a> 
<ul>
<li>watashi 私 
ware 我 
I. Me.</li>
<li>watashi no 私の 
waga 我が 
My.</li>
</ul>
 
The second case are names of places. 
<ul>
<li>hara 原 
Plains. Fields. Prairie.</li>
<li>senjou 戦場 
Battlefield.</li>
<li>senjou no hara 戦場の原 
senjou ga hara 戦場が原 
Plains of battlefield.</li>
</ul>
 
Using in names of things is generally frowned upon, likely because <a></a>ga が particle tends to be spelled as a <a></a> 
<ul>
<li>Senjougahara 戦場ヶ原 
Battlefield plains.</li>
</ul>
 
There are also cases where the ga vanished with time as people found more and more lazy ways to refer to that place. 
<ul>
<li>akiba no hara 秋葉の原 
akiba ga hara 秋葉が原 
akibagahara 秋葉ヶ原 
ahibahara 秋葉原 
akihabara アキハバラ 
akiba アキバ 
Plains of Autumn Leaves.</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="deno-karano-madeno-eno">
での, からの, までの, への</h4>
The no-particle can come after a number of other particles to create an adjectival clauses. For example: 
<ul>
<li>mirai e 未来 
Future.</li>
<li>mirai e へ 
Toward the future.</li>
<li>mirai e no kibou 未来への希望 
Hopes toward the future.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>sayonara サヨナラ 
Goodbye.</li>
<li>sayonara made サヨナラまで 
Until goodbye.</li>
<li>Sayonara Made no Aida サヨナラまでのあいだ 
The interval until goodbye. 
The [time] until goodbye.</li>
<ul>
<li>Title of a song.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>okyakusan kara no irai お客さんからの依頼 
Requests from clients. 
A request from a client.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>seikatsu suru 生活する 
To live. (somewhere, somehow.)</li>
<ul>
<li>This is a verb created with the suru auxiliary.</li>
<li>You can turn it into a noun by removing the suru.</li>
<li>seikatsu 生活 
Living. Livelihood.</li>
</ul>
<li>isekai de seikatsu suru 異世界で生活する 
To live in another world.</li>
<ul>
<li>isekai de 異世界で 
In another world. (adverb.)</li>
<li>isekai de no 異世界での 
In another world. (adjective.)</li>
</ul>
<li>isekai de no seikatsu 異世界での生活 
The livelihood in another world.</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="usage-with-suffixes">
Suffixes</h3>
Sometimes a no-adjective is a suffix that's combined with another adjective for form a more complex phrase. 
<h4 id="tame-no">
-Tame no ～ための</h4>
The phrase tame no ための is a no-adjective for the word "purpose," tame ため. It usually works like this: 
<ul>
<li>Something you want tame no requirement.</li>
<li>Action you want to perform tame no requirement.</li>
</ul>
 
For example: 
<ul>
<li>henshin suru 変身する 
To transform.</li>
<li>henshin suru tame 変身するため 
The purpose of transforming. 
In order to transform.</li>
<li>henshin suru tame no aitemu 変身するためのアイテム 
An item for the purpose of transforming. 
An item [you need in order] to transform.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>katsu tame no senryaku 勝つための戦略 
The strategy for the purpose of winning. 
The strategy [needed] to win. 
The strategy [necessary to emerge victorious].</li>
</ul>
<h4 id="you-no">
-You no ～用の</h4>
The phrase you no 用の is a no-adjective for the word "use," you 用. This word is a bit complicated because it usually means by whom something is used, or to whom something is made to be used, or for what purpose something is made to be used, and so on. 
 
For example: 
<ul>
<li>doubutsu 動物 
Animal.</li>
<li>doubutsu you 動物用 
Animal use. 
For use by animals. 
Made to be used by animals.</li>
<li>doubutsu you no kusuri 動物用の薬 
Medicine for animal use. 
Medicine for use by animals. 
Medicine made to be used by animals. 
(people don't use it.)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>oo are! Doku ne. おおアレ！毒ね。 
Oh, that! Poison, [right]?</li>
<li>Kusuko you no doku. クスコ用の毒。 
The poison for Kuzco's use.</li>
<li>Kusuko wo korosu tame no supesharu na doku. クスコを殺すためのスペシャルな毒。 
The special poison made to kill Kuzko.</li>
<li>karada ni warusou na doku. 体に悪そうな毒。 
The poison that seems bad for the body.</li>
<li>...</li>
<li>sono doku その毒？ 
That poison?</li>
<li>sou! sono doku! そう！その毒！ 
[Yeah]! That poison!</li>
<li>*Kronk grabs poison.*</li>
<li>kono doku ne! この毒ね！ 
This poison, [right]?!</li>
<li>— The Emperor's New Groove, Japanese version: Rama ni Natta Ou-Sama ラマになった王様, "The King who Became a Llama."</li>
</ul>
<h3 id="examples-of-expressions">
Expressions</h3>
Beware of set-phrases and expressions that include no-adjectives, because they either don't make much sense or don't follow the rules above. 
 
For example: 
<ul>
<li>ki no doku 気の毒 
The poison of the feeling. (literally.) 
[It's a pity.] 
[That's unfortunate.]</li>
</ul>
 
For colors, the no-adjective and i-adjective variants are not interchangeable in set expressions. 
<ul>
<li>aka no tanin 赤の他人 
akai tanin 赤い他人 
A red other person. Someone (who isn't you) who is red. 
(this meaning applies to both variants.)</li>
<li>aka no tanin 赤の他人 
A complete stranger. 
(this expression only applies to aka no)</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="attributive-copula-no">
Attributive Copula No の</h2>
In some situations, no-adjectives are identical to <a></a>no の gets analyzed as an attributive copula, just like na な gets analyzed as an attributive copula. 
 
These situations would be those where you can write the no-adjective in the predicative by switching the no with the predicative copula da だ. 
<ul>
<li>kono koukousei ga futsuu da この高校生が普通だ 
This high-school student is normal.</li>
<li>futsuu no koukousei 普通の高校生 
A normal high-school student.</li>
</ul>
 
The only difference is that for nouns no の tends to be used instead of na な. But that's about it. In this case, the inflection of no-adjective to past, negative, etc. mirrors the inflection of na-adjectives. 
<ul>
<li>futsuu 普通 
Normal. (noun.)</li>
<li>futsuu no 普通の 
Normal. (no-adjective.)</li>
<li>futsuu no koukousei 普通の高校生 
A high-school student that is normal. 
A normal high-school student.</li>
<li>futsuu datta koukousei 普通だった高校生 
A high-school student that was normal. 
An once normal high-school student.</li>
<li>futsuu denai koukousei 普通でない高校生 
A high-school student that is not normal. 
An abnormal high-school student.</li>
<li>futsuu de heibon na koukousei 普通で平凡な高校生 
A high-school student that is normal and common.</li>
<li>heibon de futsuu no koukousei 平凡で普通の高校生 
A high-school student that is common and normal.</li>
<li>futsuu sa 普通さ 
Normal-ness.</li>
<li>futsuu-sou 普通そう 
Seems normal.</li>
</ul>
 
Again: the above only makes sense when no-adjectives describes things directly. When you have possessives or any other kind of no-adjective none of the above makes sense. For example: 
<ul>
<li>watashi no neko 私の猫 
My cat.</li>
<li>watashi datta neko 私だった猫 
The cat that was mine. (WRONG!!!) 
(this form must come from the predicative with da, not from the possessive!)</li>
<li>neko ga watashi da 猫が私だ 
The cat is me.</li>
<li>watashi datta neko 私だった猫 
The cat that was me.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="further-reading">
Further Reading</h2>
 

The term-adjective refers to <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/01/japanese-adjectives.html">Japanese adjectives</a> created by adding theの particle after a noun. Generally speaking, "noun--noun" uses the first noun to describe the second noun somehow. This is also called the "genitive case."The term "-adjective" is mostly used when teaching Japanese to non-native speakers, because a noun marked by the genitive case-marking particleの acts like an adjective.There doesn't seem to be a Japanese equivalent for this term. Some books don't use the term at all. Furthermore,-adjectives can be used in a hundred different ways, so it'd be very difficult to explain what is a-adjective exactly, and perhaps even a futile effort.Anyways:The term "genitive case" refers to having a noun as modifying another word, usually a noun. That is, having a noun as adjective. In English, this is usually associated with the "possessive" case, in which a noun possesses the other. For example:However, the genitive case isn't limited only to possessions. The translation above using "of" and the contraction "'s" will not work for all cases. For example, sometimes the genitive describes what something is or is made of:There's no way to tell what variant of the genitive case a-adjective is just by looking at it. You have to guess from context and from the nouns involved.This means that there's ambiguity on whatの really means in a phrase if you don't have necessary context. And it means that a same phraseの phrase can mean two different things in two different contexts where they have two different variants of the genitive case. For example:When we try to connectto, our first guess is probably going to be the possessive: "the child of a woman," that is, "a woman's child." However, the termmeans "a child that is a woman," instead. In other words: a "girl."That isn't to sayalways means "girl." It usually means "girl."But say you're reading a manga and a character says the phrase above while he pointing at an elder woman. Naturally, anisn't a "that is a woman," so "that girl" doesn't work here. Instead, we'd have to interpret it as:Although the above is a rather far-fetched example, it illustrates that the same-adjective can mean two different things in two different contexts.Of course, even if such ambiguity didn't exist, there's still the ambiguity of <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/08/plurals-in-japanese-grammar.html">Japanese plurals</a> and the lack of <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/08/definite-indefinite-articles.html">a, an, the, definite and indefinite articles</a> , so you never get rid of ambiguity anyway.But not everything is an ambiguous Asiatic nightmare. Japanese words do tend to make sense and follow a semblance of logic, and-adjectives often mean the same thing in different contexts.On the other hand, English and Japanese are still different languages. So sometimes even if two-adjectives work the same way, the way they become translated to English is different. Which is just another reason why you shouldn't rely on translations too much.In the phrase above, the word "mystery,"謎, became "myster,"謎の. This is the exact same function of the word "legend" that came from "legend."Note that in English "mystery" got an "-ious" suffix, while legend got an "-ary" suffix. In Japanese we simply added aの both times. So the way you translate the-adjective to English varies depending on the noun even when it performs the same function.Sometimes, a noun works as an adjective for a second nountheの particle. That is, it's a noun right next another noun.For example, <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/10/nekomimi-meaning.html">nekomimi 猫耳</a> , "cat ears," is the noun compound version of猫の耳.Noun compounds are not to be confused withcompounds, which are words composed of more than oneFor example, <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/07/baka-meaning.html">baka 馬鹿</a> , "idiot," has two, but is just one noun.Furthermore, eachof acompound may have its own <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/kanji-meanings.html">meaning</a> and represent a <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/morphemes.html">morpheme</a> even if it's not a stand-alone word noun. The word馬鹿 is composed by morphemes that mean "horse,"馬, and "deer,"鹿, for example.There are also cases like女子, which is <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/same-kanji-different-word.html">written with the same kanji</a> as女の子. Itshave different <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/kanji-readings.html">readings</a> , and the word itself has a different meaning: although bothandcan be translated as "girl,"is usually older than, which is used toward young children.For reference, some examples of how-adjectives are used to help you understand them.Here's a chart of-adjectives' functions, summarizing it all.The most common usage of-adjectives is talk about possessions. Theparticle marks the possessor, and what comes after is the possession, sometimes called the possessee.Note that normally when you think of the word "possession" you think of a physical object that can be taken away. This isn't always the case with possessive adjectives. Possessives can refer to attributes and concepts that don't exist physically but are "of" somebody or something.That said, not everything that is "of" is a possession. A spoon of silver is "" silver, but you can't say "silvera spoon," so it isn't one of silver's possession. Meanwhile, "silvera conductivity," so that's a possession, and you can say "conductivitysilver."Theparticle is often used to make possessives out of <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/japanese-pronouns.html">personal pronouns</a> . For example:Theparticle is also embedded in the demonstrative pronouns <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/10/kono-sono-ano-dono-meaning.html">kono, sono, ano, and dono</a> . These are the adjectival equivalents of <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/10/kore-sore-are-dore-meaning.html">kore, sore, are and dore</a> . They aren't possessives, though.Places are a tricky kind of noun. Most of the time, places are possessions. You own a place.But, thousands of years of human civilization aside, what makes it so you can claim you "own" a place? Do you own land just by putting a flag on it? If you live in a house, does it automatically make it your house?At first glance, there's not much difference between one and other. But consider the following phrase:The concept of a piano owning a forest is ridiculous. Therefore, the phrase must mean that there's a piano in the forest, hence why it's the piano's forest: it's the forest in which the piano resides.In English, we can also use noun compounds when something resides in something. For example:This is similar to how a "juice box" is a box thatjuice, not a box owned by juice.Also, in English, we can inflect the noun into an adjective instead of using noun compounds. For example:The-adjectives can be used with <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/10/japanese-numbers-ichi-ni-san.html">numbers</a> for <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/10/counting-japanese-counters.html">counting</a> the quantity of a given noun. That is, when the possessor is a counter, it counts the possession. For example:This also works for nouns that imply vague numbers.Another way-adjectives and numbers relate are in partitives.When the possession is a number, the-adjective may form a partitive: a phrase that describes a portion of a whole. For example:The above are what are called "entity partitives," since we're talking about a percentage of a whole. (a percentage of a cake, the human race, or the question.)Another type of partitives are the "set partitives," where we talk about a number of individual units from a larger set of units. For example:The above can mean "one of the cats" of a defined group, like you had four cats and something happened to one of the four.It can also simply mean "one cat" without implying that there's a group or anything because you can also interpret it like:The phraseの一つ means "one of." It's commonly used when you're talking of "one of" many things. For example:The expressionのひとつやふたつ, meaning "one, two, [or more] of," is generally used when talking about something you're supposed to have at least one of. Specially when that's obvious, or expected, or maybe when someone assumed the opposite.The phraseの一人 also means "one of," but is used toward people instead.Of course, you can interpret these as attributives instead of partitives:Although not exactly the same thing,-adjectives can be used similarly to indicate someone is a member of a given group. For example:Similarly, in archaic Japanese, sometimes somebody's name is written with aの between the family name and their given name, as if the family was a group they were a member of. For example:To be honest I'm not sure if these are family names or clan names, and if they are given names or aliases. Japan was full of name-switching traditions.For reference:In Japanese, names of people are traditionally written withonly, no. Since theの particle is written with, it may be left unwritten in some names of people. That is, it gets read as if it was there, but isn't spelled.Literally.For example:Another common use of-adjectives is to describe things by their. If you have a noun that works as a quality of something, adding theparticle turns it into a category-like word that classifies the following noun. For example:As you'd expect, this includes specifying of what something is made of.The aspect may also be the region something is from, its origin. In English, we sometimes have separate adjective words to mean something "comes from" somewhere. For example:The <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/03/names-of-colors-in-japanese.html">words for colors in Japanese</a> are a bit weird because some of the most common colors have two versions: a noun version, and an adjective version.This means there are two ways to describe something by color. For examples, to say a "white rose," you can say:Both mean the same thing, they both describe a white rose. If there is a difference, it's in usage. Generally speaking, the-adjective version of colors sound indefinite, while the the no-adjective versions sound finite.And so the-adjective variants end up showing in titles of anime more than the less definite sounding-adjective variants.A rather distinct kind of-adjective are-adjectives that meanattributives of things, and that can therefore be used in the predicative, right before theだ copula. For example:At first glance there isn't a lot of difference, but consider the following:We can say a book iscooking the way above. This is anattributive. We know it's indirect because the predicative form doesn't make sense:The important thing about-adjectives that are direct attributives is that they can behave like-adjectives grammatically. In which case theの is sometimes analyzed as an attributive copula, just likeな.For example, this means we can use the attributive past of-adjectives with a-adjective:Some other examples of direct-adjectives:Note that some of these adjectives aren't usually used in the predicative. For example:Although真 means "real" or "true," it's normally used as真の, "true [something]," rather than "[something] is true,"◯が真だ.Adjectives that are superlatives also fit this category.Apposition, or同格, refers to when you have two phrases that refer to the same thing one beside the other. In English, we usually introduce an apposition with a comma, but we can use the preposition "of," which's what we for our genitive case, to do it too.In Japanese, a-adjective can be part of an appositive in a way similar to the "of" preposition.For example:There isn't much apposition can do that can't already be understood by other functions of the-particle shown so far. So let's focus on what's new: it explains the way the-adjective is used with family members.A lot of times appositives aren't translated as appositives, though. Probably because a lot of times it sounds weird.Theの particle can be used with directional words like <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/03/up-down-left-right-in-japanese.html">up, down, left, right</a> in various ways. If the directional word is qualified by the-adjective, it refers to a direction away from the qualifier. If it's part of the-adjective, it qualifies where the noun is. For example:When up and down are involved, they often translate to above, atop, under, bottom, and so on.Also, if theorcome before thewhen talking about people, it usually carries an hierarchical meaning.Of course, there are other directions besides up, down, left and right, like <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/03/north-south-east-west-in-japanese.html">north, south, east, west</a> , etc.:Verbs can be part of genitives in multiple ways, and since the fact a verb is a verb, not a noun, carries some added complexity, I figured they deserve their own section explaining how it works.First off, the agent of an action in a phrase can be part of the genitive in another phrase involving the same action.Now, to recap: a verb means an action, and an action means an agent doing that action. In active voice, the agent is the subject, who's marked by theが particle.For example, say we have this phrase:Then we change the verb終わる to its politeます form:Now we replace the subject markerが with the genitive case marking particleの and remove thesuffix leaving only the-stem form of the verb, also known as the "connective form,"連用形, which is the form in which the verb is treated as a noun:And there we have it. We change from "the world ends," where we say it's happening, to "the ending of the world," where we merely refer to the happening.In most cases, the pattern above with the connective form is followed. For example:Although it's always grammatically correct, a lot of times there are better ways of saying it. For example:Withverbs, that is, nouns that become verbs by taking theauxiliary verb, we can simply remove theauxiliary to get the noun.And, of course, not even this pattern is free from Japanese's extreme ambiguity. Specially when you can have <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/homonyms-in-japanese.html">homonyms</a> and <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/words-written-without-kanji.html">writing words without kanji</a> The title of the anime above can be interpreted in two ways: the main character is having fun with their net-life and is "recommending" things to do if you're an internet addict; or, the main character is sickly addicted to internet and is having "progress" in treating it.Sometimes you have a verb that's not modified by a-adjective but that's actually part of the-adjective. This is different from the above, and in this case the verb is just a noun.Of course, you can chain multiple-adjectives too:The genitive can also contain the patient of an action of another phrase. That is, of whom the action is done upon. In active voice, this is the direct object the phrase, marked by theを particle.In passive voice, the patient is the subject marked by theが particle.Note that it's actually grammatically impossible to tell apart the agent from the patient genitives. For example:Of course, just because it's grammatically ambiguous doesn't mean that it's ambiguous in practice. In the case above, we can safely assume the children stole something, and not that someone "stole" the children, as that doesn't make much sense.Not every time you have a verb in its noun form after a-adjective it's going to be something like the above. After all, Japanese is a language full of ambiguities. For example:Beware of the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs, as they affect the genitives that come from them.Although the difference isn't very big in the end,implies something else is involved in this cleansing business besides the soul: as it must either cleanseor be cleansed. The worddoesn't carry this implication.Sometimes, theの particle is used instead of theが particle to mark the subject of a relative adjectival clause. Although this isn't literally a case of-adjectives, relative clauses are adjectives, so I feel this should be mentioned in this article too:For further reference:Sometimes, theが particle is used instead of theの particle to create a possessive adjective. This usage is rather old, and in modern Japanese it's limited to a few specific cases.The most common one is the possessive of the first person pronoun <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2016/08/watashi-boku-ore-meaning.html#ware">ware 我</a> The second case are names of places.Usingin names of things is generally frowned upon, likely because <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2017/12/aesthetics-hiragana-katakana-kanji.html">kanji looks more authoritative</a> . Maybe because of this, thisが particle tends to be spelled as a <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/08/small-ke.html">small katakana ke ケ-looking symbol</a> instead.There are also cases where thevanished with time as people found more and more lazy ways to refer to that place.The-particle can come after a number of other particles to create an adjectival clauses. For example:Sometimes a-adjective is a suffix that's combined with another adjective for form a more complex phrase.The phraseための is a-adjective for the word "purpose,"ため. It usually works like this:For example:The phrase用の is a-adjective for the word "use,"用. This word is a bit complicated because it usually means by whom something is used, or to whom something is made to be used, or for what purpose something is made to be used, and so on.For example:Beware of set-phrases and expressions that include-adjectives, because they either don't make much sense or don't follow the rules above.For example:For colors, the-adjective and-adjective variants are not interchangeable in set expressions.In some situations,-adjectives areto <a href="https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2018/11/na-adjectives.html">na-adjectives</a> . Even down to the fact thatの gets analyzed as an attributive copula, just likeな gets analyzed as an attributive copula.These situations would be those where you can write the-adjective in the predicative by switching the no with the predicative copulaだ.The only difference is thatの tends to be used instead ofな. But that's about it. In this case, the inflection of-adjective to past, negative, etc. mirrors the inflection of-adjectives.Again: the above only makes sense when no-adjectives describes things directly. When you have possessives or any other kind of no-adjective none of the above makes sense. For example:</div>

No-Adjectives in Japanese

no-adjective refers to no の particle after a noun. Generally speaking, "noun-no-noun" uses the first noun to describe the second noun somehow. This is also called the "genitive case." Anime: Zombielan…

22 Dec 2018

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No-Adjectives in Japanese

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

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Naide ないで

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No-Adjectives in Japanese

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)