Question regarding adjectives

[maxchu]

From my text book, it teaches me sentences like:

富士山は 高い 山です。

Then I heard a song whose lyric is like:

大きな 太鼓 ドンドン 小さな 太鼓 どんどんどん 。

Why does the 2nd sentence is not like

"大きい 太鼓 ドンドン 小さい 太鼓 どんどんど？

Thanks in advance.

 

[GaijinPunch]

Have you gotten into な vs い adjectives? There are basically two kinds... the two I just mentioned. 大きい and 小さい happen to be special, in that they can be used both ways. I couldn't tell you why if my life depended on it though.

 

[maxchu]

Thanks for the response. I know there are two kinds of adjective. I am just confused why 大きい and 小さい are used differently in that song. I am wondering if there is any rules for when to use 大きい and 小さい and when to use 大きな and 小さな ...

 

[82riceballs]

hmmm.... interesting. if i were to order a small pack of fries, i would probably say 小さいポテト. most of the times, it could be replaced, though- 大きい人＝大きな人。you might want to try What is Hiragana? How to Learn the Japanese Alphabet with Sound but it didn't make much sense to me when i read it.

 

[maxchu]

great, thanks a lot. It explains a lot to me and very is very helpful.

 

[Nagato]

I also found na-adj rather than it's i-form(like 大きな instead of 大きい); ki-adj than it's i-form (美しき instead of 美しい) is used more often in song, poem, or ancient writing.

I have a question, (hope it's not of topic).
I often found 聖なる (can't recall more exs atm) also used in a poetic nuance. Is なる in 聖なる also another kind of adj?

If so, then how about 神聖なる、偉大なる ?
And, could any1 give more examples?

 

[undrentide]

～なる is more like a phrase that is used like adjective these days.
Like 美しき, ～なる also came from archaic grammar.
It is 連体形 (placed before noun) of なり.
This page might be of some help to see its conjugation and function.
http://contest.thinkquest.gr.jp/tqj2...ushi2.htm#nari

Though ～なる is still in use, it can be "translated" as ～である.
You can find many examples with this form;

母なる大地
大いなる野望
遥かなる故郷
新たなる門出

 

[GaijinPunch]

hmmm.... interesting. if i were to order a small pack of fries, i would probably say 小さいポテト.

You would indeed be asking for 1 small potato, and not an s-size pack of them.