JLPT N5 · Adjectives and comparing · 26 of 60

な-adjectives: 静かです

静かです・静かではありません shizuka desu, shizuka dewa arimasen な-adjectives

な-adjectives like 静か (quiet) act like nouns: 静かです, 静かではありません. Before a noun they take な: 静かな部屋, a quiet room.

Level: JLPT N5, beginner
Type: Adjectives and comparing
English links: adjectives, articles, be + adjective

What it means

な-adjectives are the second family of adjectives. Common ones are 静か (quiet), きれい (clean, pretty), 元気 (well, lively), 有名 (famous), 暇 (free, not busy) and 好き (liked).

They behave like nouns. At the end of a sentence, they take です, and the negative is ではありません, the same as for a noun. In speech, じゃありません or じゃないです is more common. The adjective itself never changes.

Before a noun, add な: 静かな部屋 (a quiet room), きれいな町 (a beautiful town). That な is where the name comes from. In my classes, I find this is the one rule teachers forget most when they start speaking.

How to build it

Pattern	How it works
静かです shizuka desu	Positive. The adjective + です.
静かではありません / 静かじゃありません / 静かじゃないです shizuka dewa arimasen / shizuka ja arimasen / shizuka ja nai desu	Negative. The first is for writing; the others are for speech.
静かな + noun shizuka na + noun	Before a noun, add な: 静かな部屋.
きれいではありません kirei dewa arimasen	きれい ends in い but is a な-adjective. Never きれくない.

Examples

図書館は静かです。 toshokan wa shizuka desu. The library is quiet.
この町は有名ではありません。 kono machi wa yuumei dewa arimasen. This town is not famous.
田中先生はとても元気です。 tanaka-sensei wa totemo genki desu. Tanaka-sensei is full of energy.
京都はきれいな町です。 kyouto wa kirei na machi desu. Kyoto is a beautiful city.
今日は暇じゃありません。 kyou wa hima ja arimasen. I am not free today.

How English says it

English has only one kind of adjective. It goes straight before a noun, with nothing in between ("a quiet room"), or after "be" ("The room is quiet"). The negative goes on "be": "The room isn't quiet".

A singular countable noun also needs "a" or "the": "a quiet room", "a beautiful city". Japanese has no articles, so the な phrase arrives in English without one.

Some な-adjectives match an English verb or phrase, not an adjective. 好き is "like", 上手 is "good at", and 元気 is "well" or "full of energy", depending on the sentence.

Why it can make English hard

When the な phrase comes before a noun, many students leave out the article: "Kyoto is beautiful city."
The dictionary meaning of a な-adjective may not fit the English sentence. 上手 is often listed as "skillful", but English says "good at".
元気ではありません usually means "not well" or "unwell", and students often translate it as "I am not fine", which sounds odd in English.

Mistakes you will hear

Kyoto is beautiful city. Kyoto is a beautiful city. きれいな町 has no article. A singular countable noun needs "a".
She is skillful at English. She is good at English. 上手 is "skillful" in the dictionary, but "good at" is what people say.
I am not fine today. I don't feel well today. 元気ではありません turned word for word. English uses "feel well".

In the classroom

Give students a な-adjective and a noun on two cards: きれい + 町. They make the Japanese phrase with な, then the English one with "a". The な and the "a" sit in the same spot, which helps them remember both.
Collect "dictionary traps": 上手 (good at), 元気 (well), 暇 (free). Students guess the natural English before you show it.
Ask "How are you?" and teach more than "I'm fine": "I'm good", "I'm tired", "Not bad". It stops the 元気 = fine reflex.

Practice

Try each one, then open it to check.

1. Fill the gap: 静か＿部屋です。 (It is a quiet room.)

Answer: な

A な-adjective before a noun takes な.
2. Make it negative in speech: 暇です。

Answer: 暇じゃないです。 (or 暇じゃありません。)

な-adjectives take the noun negative. じゃ is the spoken form of では.
3. Translate: 東京はにぎやかな町です。

Answer: Tokyo is a lively city.

English needs "a" before the singular noun.
4. A student writes "He is very skillful at baseball." Fix it.

Answer: He is very good at baseball.

上手 is "good at" in natural English.