quiet, kind people

Tiff · 9 Dec 2014

Hi!

I just learnt how to list two predicate adjectives from my Genki I book but it doesn't tell me how to list two or more attributive adjectives. Is it because the same principle applies?
eg. I like kind, quiet people. 私はしんせつでしずかひとがすきです。

Also, second question, how do you list three or more adjectives? Is this correct?
eg. My dad is a tall, clever and kind person. 私のお父さんはせがたかくてあたまがくてしんせつです。

Sorry if there is already a thread with a similar questions. I tried googling these but can't seem to find any info.

Toritoribe · 9 Dec 2014

Tiff said:
I just learnt how to list two predicate adjectives from my Genki I book but it doesn't tell me how to list two or more attributive adjectives. Is it because the same principle applies?
eg. I like kind, quiet people. 私はしんせつでしずかひとがすきです。

Yes, but it should be 私はしんせつでしずかなひとがすきです。. Plus, I would use むくちな, おだやかな or おとなしい instead of しずかな when "silent" expresses people's character.

Tiff said:
Also, second question, how do you list three or more adjectives? Is this correct?
eg. My dad is a tall, clever and kind person. 私のお父さんはせがたかくてあたまがくてしんせつです。

Yes, except a typo 私のお父さんはせがたかくてあたまがよくてしんせつです。

Tiff · 9 Dec 2014

oops, i didn't realize i made some mistakes. thanks very much, i understand now!

lanthas · 9 Dec 2014

I've been wondering: would it also be theoretically possible to read the first sentence as "I am kind, and I like quiet people"? If not, what changes would be needed to make it express this (maybe replace the は by が)?
Also, how should one see the で that connects the two adjectives from a grammatical point of view - is it just the regular で particle (like in である), or is it the (irregular) て-form of です?

Toritoribe · 10 Dec 2014

Purely grammatically, it's possible, but semantically, it's odd in the example sentence. で can connect two clauses when they have a relation (e.g. "temporal order" or "cause and result"), but しんせつ and しずかなひとがすき doesn't have such relations.

しんせつで can be considered the -te form of a na-adjective 親切だ. See せがたかくて and あたまがよくて in another example. These are also the -te form of i-adjectives. (the etymology of this で and the -te form of the copula are the same, though.)

lanthas · 10 Dec 2014

I knew about the te-form of い-adjectives and ~ないで/~なくて, but it's good to have confirmation for な-adjectives. Thanks for the clarification!

quiet, kind people

Tiff

後輩

Toritoribe

松葉解禁

Tiff

後輩

lanthas

Toritoribe

松葉解禁

lanthas

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