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I was having a conversation with a friend of mine who is also learning
Japanese, and she used 大きなめんどくさい as a phrase today, which seemed off to me to
use 大きい as a modifier on an adjective. Can you use 大きい/な as an adverb to
modify another adjective? If so, are there restrictions around what sort of
adjectives it can modify?
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2014-07-10T18:52:54.660
17759
2014-07-11T01:26:30.273
3256
question
adjectives
restrictions on what 大きな can modify
No な form can modify an adjective. The な ending creates what's called an
_adnominal_ , i.e. something that can only modify a nominal (noun). This is a
special kind of adjective -- while normal adjectives can be used to form
predicates, such as " _that dog is **red_** ", adnominals can **only** be used
to modify nouns, and **cannot** be used to form predicates. 大きい is a normal
Japanese adjective, by this measure -- you can have 大きい犬 " _a **big** dog_",
and you can have 犬が大きい " _the dog is **big_** ". 大きな is an adnominal, and only
works one way -- you can have 大きな犬 " _a **big** dog_", but you can't have
犬が大きな " _the dog is a **big** _____", because you **need** a noun after that
な.

For adverbs, modifying verbs or adjectives, you'd have to use に instead of な,
or the -く form of _-i_ adjectives.

Your friend's sample phrase of 大きな面倒くさい could kinda work, if a noun came right
after this phrase -- 大きな面倒くさい（何か） " _a big bothersome (something)_ ".
(Technically speaking, even that isn't quite right, and should probably be 大き
**くて** 面倒くさい（何か） instead.) But if she intended for the 大きな to modify the
面倒くさい, the grammar just doesn't work that way.

**Addendum:** If she was trying to say that something is _a big bother_ , the
grammatically correct way to say that is 大{おお}きな面倒{めんどう}. The adjective
面倒{めんどう}くさい is literally 面倒{めんどう} " _a bother_ " + くさい " _stinky, smelling of
[something unpleasant]_ ".
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-10T20:51:02.957
17761
2014-07-11T01:26:30.273
2014-07-11T01:26:30.273
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answer