な-Adjective (predicate)
Structure
［な］Adjective + (だ)Examples
静か + だ
元気 + だ
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Hello I am just learning this な adjective (predicate) now and there are two examples given in the lesson which I am not clear on:
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In the Details tab : 素敵 This なadjective was by itself and so where is the だ？
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In the Examples tab: the last example 今、暇か. Again, where is the だ at the end of the sentence?
I thought だ or です is supposed to be used with the なadjective at the end of the sentence when it functions as a predicate.
Any help I could get would be much appreciated.
Thank you.
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Hey there @wootau !
When な- adjectives are used as a predicate, they can appear by itself when the word it is describing does not need to be stated. They can appear by itself because な- adjectives can function as a noun and sounds more like a noun than an adjective when used as a predicate. For Example, if something that is ‘wonderful’ was stated previously, or it is something obvious that can be seen by both the speaker and the listener, the speaker could just say すてき. This is what is happening in the second sentence you have provided. Instead of just ending the sentence with 暇, it uses the question marking particle か to emphasize the question.
I hope this clears it up!
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Hello Fuga-san,
Thank you very much for your explanation. Just to make sure I understand, when the topic is obvious, it is grammatically correct if だ is not used with the な adjective. But if the topic is not obvious, だ /です is required. For example:
トムは暇だ Tom is free now
Or if I want to ask if Tom is free:
トムは暇ですか or
トムは暇だか
I hope that I am making sense.
Thank you.
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