Practise how adjectives connect to nouns. Some words ending in the sound i, including きれい, still belong to the な-adjective pattern.
Learn the connection with a noun
大きい部屋 uses the い-adjective directly before 部屋. 静かな部屋 uses な between the adjective stem and the noun. In a polite predicate, both can appear with です: 大きいです and 静かです. The appearance of です therefore does not tell you which class a word belongs to.
きれい and 有名 are な-adjectives. Learn きれいな町 as a small phrase rather than deciding the class from the final kana. The word 嫌い is another common trap; its final い does not make it an い-adjective.
Check the negative separately
An い-adjective such as 高い becomes 高くない. A な-adjective such as 静か uses 静かではない or another noun-like negative. The drill specifies the target form, so focus on the connection or change requested instead of switching registers halfway through.
Examples to read before you practise
Japanese | Reading / English |
|---|---|
大きい部屋 | a large room |
静かな部屋 | a quiet room |
きれいな町 | a beautiful / clean town |
Try six questions
Try these self-check questions from memory, then compare your answers with the explanations. For automatic checking and saved progress, open the related practice after this article.
静か + 部屋 → type only the connector
きれい + 写真 → complete きれい（ ）写真
高い → plain negative
静か → plain negative using ではない
いい + 店 → type the whole phrase, no final punctuation
有名 + 人 → complete 有名（ ）人
Answer key and explanations
な — A な-adjective needs な before a noun.
な — きれい is a な-adjective.
高くない / たかくない — Replace い with くない.
静かではない / しずかではない — This adjective uses the noun-like negative.
いい店 / いいみせ — いい directly modifies the noun.
な — 有名 is a な-adjective.
Keep learning
Related lessons
Try what you have just read
Recognise the pattern, write an answer from memory, then use it in a short reading. Your existing progress carries over.
Open the three-step lessonSources
Related Grammar
Japanese I-Adjectives: Negative and Past Forms
I-adjectives change their own final い to express negatives and past time. Polite です can follow the adjective, but it does not take over the normal adjective conjugation. Practise with 10 explained questions.
Japanese Na-Adjectives: Na, Da, and Conjugation
A na-adjective uses な before a noun but behaves much like a noun predicate at the end of a sentence. Compare 静かな部屋 with 部屋は静かです. Practise with 10 explained questions.
Put Japanese Adjectives Before Nouns
A Japanese adjective comes before the noun it describes. The connector depends on the adjective class: 新しい本 but 静かな部屋. Practise with 10 explained questions.
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