When な Is Used
“Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified.” - Dr. Samuel Johnson
There are two ways you’ll see な adjectives: With the な and without the な. That probably means nothing to you at the moment, but here’s the big picture difference between the two possibilities:
- When a な adjective precedes (i.e. comes right before) a noun, you add the な to the adjective. For example: すきなたべものです
- When a な adjective comes after a noun, you don’t use the な. For example: たべものがすきです
It’s almost as simple as that, though I think we’ll need to go through some examples and practice to have it make sense. For now, though, I just want you to remember:
- Right before a noun = な
- After a noun = no な
Memorize those two things (or at least one of them, because then you can figure out the other by default) before moving on to the next page, where we’ll take a closer look at the first な adjective situation.