I had been wondering whether after the last discussion if there was truly a difference between concrete, physical v. abstract (not objective or measurable) nouns when adding な or not. But evidently not. So 小さい・大きい問題 are fine as well for a small/large problem ? :? That makes sense since it is 小さな that seems slightly more emotional or impressionistic.In terms of practical usage, the two are interchangeable when used as adjectives directly modifying a noun.
小さい学校・小さな学校 (small school)
My last post was to give an elementary description of use of the two types of adjectives. It by no means is a blanket definition.I had been wondering whether after the last discussion if there was truly a difference between concrete, physical v. abstract (not objective or measurable) nouns when adding な or not. But evidently not. So 小さい・大きい問題 are fine as well for a small/large problem ? :? That makes sense since it is 小さな that seems slightly more emotional or impressionistic.
I think you're right about that...For this thread, I personally thought that the discussion of nuances is not appropriate for the OP.
the only one I know is 小さな親切 and that is straight from a dictionary !The delicate difference between the two is difficult to explain even for native speakers, and there are instances when ookina/chiisana is OK but ookii/chiisai isn't. (Sorry, can't think of an example right now!)
the only one I know is 小さいな親切 and that is straight from a dictionary !
From my knowledge, -na adjectives were originated from Chinese, and -i adjectives were Japanese originally. In this case what can you say about 大きー and 小さー ? Which language were they originated form?
From the first link undrentide-san posted above basically confirming this analysis of the available data.I remember my teacher in university used to say that one is used more often for tangible objects, and the other for intangible, abstract objects.
Google Results Figures
小さな城 14400
小さい城 510000
大きな城 16700
大きい城 354000
For "Shiro", a physical castle, "i-adj" outnumbers "na-adj" significantly
小さな問題 122000
小さい問題 42700
大きな問題 2510000
大きい問題 180000
For "mondai" or "problem", the "na-adjective" wins out in this case.
I don't think this is a universal rule (if it's a rule at all) and you're bound to find many exceptions. But the huge disparity between the na and i adjectives in both cases illustrates that on some cases i-adjectives are preferred and for other cases na-adjectives are preferred. In any case your safest bet is to learn them one by one.
それはとてもとても私の役に立つと思います。どうもうありがとう。I found the explanation on this page from 日本語Ｑ＆Ａ is helpful, too.
日本語Ｑ＆Ａ 形容詞関連（１） (Q5)
日本語Ｑ＆Ａ
日本語Ｑ＆Ａ 日本語の質問をお受けします。日本語Ｑ＆Ａ
i-adjectives are more 普通の options to pick, na-adjectives are 特別な, わざわざの options.
いつか、ｕｎｄｒｅｎｔｉｄｅさんのお役にたてればと てもうれしいです。