な-Adj + である/な?

Japanese
#1

Can someone explain what’s the difference between な and である?
…like with these grammar points…
な-Adj + な + だけに
な-Adj + な/だった + だけのことはある
な-Adj + である/な + 一方(で)
な-Adj + な/である + 上(に)
https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/320
https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/497
https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/292
https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/337

Is there a nuance? It doesn’t seem related to formal/informal. I saw another grammar site use である with だけ. Is that wrong?

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#2

The way I’m reading this is the emphasis on the state (である) vs. modifying the noun (な) and nothing more than that. Probably easier to ignore the English in these cases. The である entry mentions how it replace な・の to modify nouns in formal writing which I think makes sense (sounds more written than spoken).

インターネットは便利な一方で、信用できない情報も溢れている。
The internet is convenient, but on the other hand , it is overflowing with untrustworthy information.

車は便利である 一方で 、交通事故などの危険もある。
Cars are convenient, but, on the other hand , there is a risk of things like traffic accidents.

Maybe they could put “Cars have convenience…” to be literal and still have smooth translation but perhaps a written source

As well as:

友人は、知恵がある上に勇ましいから頼りになります。
*Because my friend is wise, as well as brave, he is reliable.*or ‘Because my friend has wisdom as well as…’ I think the translation reads smoother as in the entry and again, may be a written entry.

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#3

I get roughly the same image as @s1212z with this one. である is much more focussed on the state, rather than a simple description like な. Also である tends to point more toward permanence, where な is just a momentary observation.

である implies that the noun being described has been completely absorbed into that person/things being, and is a part of their own being now. Hence why you see it a lotttttt when soldiers are talking about honor and bravery etc. It’s more like ‘He lives his life (with) honor’ (である) nuance. As apposed to ‘He is honorable’ (な) nuance.

Just expanding with an easy description using one of the previous sentences

車は便利である 一方で 、交通事故などの危険もある。
Cars are (a thing of convenience), but, on the other hand , there is a risk of things like traffic accidents.

Here (a thing of convenience), rather than (convenient), points to convenience being the nature of what are car is, or its purpose.

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#4

@s1212z @Asher
Interesting! I’m going to have to let that soak into my brain for a while. But that makes sense. Thanks for the explanations!

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#5

@FredKore
Like @Asher and @s1212z said.

From the grammatical point of view, である can be used as both predicate of a sentence (when it is used at the end of it) and also used as attribute (when modifying/describing a noun). な can only be used in the second case. I would also add that it similarly differs from だ, that is だ can be used only in the final position, while である can be used as both. So it can perform functions of な and だ. It can also perform functions of の. である is often used in literary language, you use it for example when writing a thesis, scientific paper, in an encyclopedia, and so on. It is a form that didn’t change much with the passing time.

Examples:
The final position of the sentence(predicative use):
He is a scientist.
彼は科学者な。Bad
彼は科学者だ。Good
彼は科学者である。Good

Attributive use (noun):
An administrator who is in charge of a website.
サイトの責任者である管理者。Good
サイトの責任者だ管理者。Bad
サイトの責任者の管理者。Good
サイトの責任者な管理者。Bad

Attributive use (Adjective):
Good A city that is quiet.
静かである街
静かの街 Bad
静かな街 Good
静かだ街 Bad

If we look at だ from a wider perspective, we can see that in the attributive form it can become な and の, which de facto simply mean “be that/be which/be who” and so on.
Copula type | だ | である
Attributive form | な、の | である | that be/ who be/ which be…
Predicative, nonpast form | だ | である | be
Hypothetical form | ならば | であれば | if it is
Conjectural form | だろう | であろう | probably be
past form | だった | であった | was

To sum up, you actually can use である instead of な・の in many cases but it will make it more literary. In some cases it might also sound unnatural, because such combination might be uncommon. である is more versatile and has easier to remember conjugation.

By the way, it may be interesting to learn about たる, which is similar to both な/である and is also an attributive form of the copula (とあり, which became たり), but its usage is limited nowadays.

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#6

Awesome explanation! Thank you for that! :bowing_man:
That really helps understand how these fit in the big picture. :+1:

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#7

Great explanation! I always treat it like the equivalent of ‘a person of/with “attribute”’ in English. Has the same feel to me. Like ‘A man of heritage’.

I should start reading more academic papers. Most of my exposure to である is in games.

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