な-Adjectives
Japanese's second adjective family works like nouns in disguise. Meet the な-adjectives — 静か, 有名, 好き — learn where the な goes, and conjugate all four polite forms with the です endings you already know.
Meet the second adjective family
You've met い-adjectives — words like 高い that conjugate by changing their final い. Japanese keeps a second, completely separate family: な-adjectives, such as 静か (quiet), 有名 (famous), 好き (liked) and 上手 (good at).
The good news: you already know how they work. A な-adjective behaves almost exactly like a noun — it never changes shape itself, and you bolt です, でした and じゃありません onto it just as you did with nouns. The only genuinely new thing is the little な that appears when the adjective sits directly before a noun — which is where the family gets its name.
Listen: な-adjectives at the supermarket
Cassian and Pishi use な-adjectives while shopping. Tap ► to hear each line.
Cassianゲッ！今日の晩ご飯も野菜ですか？
ge! kyō no bangohan mo yasai desu ka?
Yuk! Today's dinner is also going to be vegetables?
Pishi確か、カッシャン君は野菜が苦手でしたよね
tashika, kasshan kun wa yasai ga nigate deshita yone
If I am right, you don't like vegetables, right?
Cassianそうですよ。ピシ君は何が一番苦手ですか？
sō desu yo, Pishi kun wa nani ga ichiban nigate desu ka?
Yes. What is the thing you like the least, Pishi?
Pishi缶詰ですね。開け方はわかりませんから
kandzume desu ne. akekata wa wakarimasen kara
Canned food. I don't know how to open it
な-adjective + です — describing things
At the end of a sentence, a な-adjective takes plain です with no な anywhere. The pattern is identical to AはBです with a noun — swap in the adjective and you're done. Beginners often want to slip a な in before です; resist it. な only ever appears before a noun.
この町は静かです。
kono machi wa shizuka desu.
This town is quiet.
田中さんは有名です。
tanaka-san wa yūmei desu.
Mr/Ms Tanaka is famous.
このかばんは丈夫です。
kono kaban wa jōbu desu.
This bag is sturdy.
丈夫 (sturdy) and 大丈夫 (all right) look similar but are different words.
私は元気です。
watashi wa genki desu.
I am well.
な before a noun — where the family gets its name
To describe a noun directly, insert な between the adjective and the noun: 静かな町 "a quiet town". Compare い-adjectives, which attach with nothing extra: 高い山 "a tall mountain". This little な is the only spot where the two families differ in the present affirmative — and it's how dictionaries decide which label a word gets.
静かな町ですね。
shizuka na machi desu ne.
It's a quiet town, isn't it?
ね at the end invites agreement — like "isn't it?"
田中さんは有名な人です。
tanaka-san wa yūmei na hito desu.
Mr/Ms Tanaka is a famous person.
安全な公園です。
anzen na kōen desu.
It's a safe park.
The four forms — side by side with い-adjectives
Because な-adjectives behave like nouns, their polite conjugation is the です table you already know: negate with じゃありません (never くない), past with でした, past negative with じゃありませんでした. Here are both families side by side:
| 静か (な) | 高い (い) | |
|---|---|---|
| Non-past | 静かです | 高いです |
| Negative | 静かじゃありません | 高くないです |
| Past | 静かでした | 高かったです |
| Past negative | 静かじゃありませんでした | 高くなかったです |
The adjective itself never moves a muscle — all the work happens after it. If you catch yourself saying 静かくない, that's the い-adjective ending leaking across. The correct form is 静かじゃありません.
この図書館は静かじゃありません。
kono toshokan wa shizuka ja arimasen.
This library is not quiet.
昨日、動物園はにぎやかでした。
kinō, dōbutsuen wa nigiyaka deshita.
Yesterday, the zoo was lively.
にぎやか (lively, bustling) is another common な-adjective — all kana, no ruby needed.
テストは簡単じゃありませんでした。
tesuto wa kantan ja arimasen deshita.
The test was not easy.
Two traps: きれい and 嫌い
Two very common N5 adjectives look like い-adjectives but belong to the な family:
- きれい (pretty; clean) — the い is part of the word itself (in kanji it's 綺麗), not a conjugating ending. Say きれいな花 and きれいじゃありません — never きれくない.
- 嫌い (disliked) — even sneakier, because its い is written in kana after the kanji. Still: 嫌いな食べ物, 嫌いじゃありません.
Memorise these two as exceptions and the usual rule of thumb holds: if an adjective doesn't end in the kana い, it's a な-adjective — and many な-adjectives are Sino-Japanese words like 便利 (convenient) and 安全 (safe).
好き and 嫌い take が
好き and 嫌い are adjectives, not verbs. Japanese doesn't say "I like coffee" — it says something closer to "as for me, coffee is pleasing". The thing you like is marked with が, never を. The same pattern carries 上手 (good at) and its opposite 下手 (bad at).
私はコーヒーが好きです。
watashi wa kōhī ga suki desu.
I like coffee.
猫が好きですか。
neko ga suki desu ka.
Do you like cats?
The topic (あなたは) is dropped, as usual when it's obvious.
田中さんは魚が嫌いです。
tanaka-san wa sakana ga kirai desu.
Mr/Ms Tanaka dislikes fish.
友だちはテニスが上手です。
tomodachi wa tenisu ga jōzu desu.
My friend is good at tennis.
More practice in the game
These three free browser lessons drill な-adjectives in the present, past and past negative — with native Japanese audio on every line.
Chapter vocabulary
Thirteen な-adjectives from the game. Every one of them slots straight into the four-form table above.
Tap ► to hear the native audio from the game, or tap a word to open its dictionary entry.
元気ですか — not quite "how are you?"
Every textbook teaches お元気ですか as "How are you?" — but Japanese people don't open every conversation with it the way English speakers do. Because it genuinely asks after someone's health and spirits, it sounds odd with people you see every day: you already know how they are. It belongs after a gap — bumping into an old friend, a phone call, the first line of a letter or email. Day to day, Japanese gets by with おはようございます, こんにちは and a remark about the weather. If someone does ask, the standard reply is はい、元気です — and you can return the question with お元気ですか.
Test yourself
Eight questions on telling な from い, conjugating, and liking things with が.
8 quick questions on this chapter.
Your score
Common questions
Quick answers about this chapter's grammar.
How do I tell whether an adjective is a な-adjective or an い-adjective?
Rule of thumb: if it doesn't end in the kana い, it's a な-adjective. Many な-adjectives are Sino-Japanese compounds (有名, 便利, 安全) or loanwords (ハンサム). The two N5 exceptions that end in い but are still な-adjectives are きれい and 嫌い — dictionaries label every adjective, so check when in doubt.
Is きれい an い-adjective?
No — and this is the most common classification mistake at N5. The final い of きれい is part of the word itself (kanji 綺麗), not a conjugating ending. So you say きれいな部屋 and きれいじゃありません; きれくない is always wrong.
Why does 好き use が instead of を?
Because 好き isn't a verb meaning "to like" — it's an adjective meaning roughly "pleasing". The liked thing is the grammatical subject of the sentence, so it takes が: わたしはコーヒーが好きです. The same logic applies to 嫌い, 上手 and 下手.
Can I say 好きじゃないです instead of 好きじゃありません?
Yes. じゃないです means exactly the same thing and is slightly more conversational; じゃありません is a touch more formal. Both are polite, both are correct, and both appear on the JLPT N5 — pick one and be consistent while you practise.
Want more practice? Browse all free Japanese lessons or look words up in the Japanese dictionary.