Connecting adjectives, "does not have to A and B"


The simplest things seem to be the hardest.

I am exercising the "does not have to be" structure.

If I want to say "the book does not have to be expensive", it is (may be?):

> 本は高くなくてもいいです。

But how do I say "the book does not have to be expensive and big"?

I [asked this in chat and got a kind
answer](http://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/511/2015/3/11) from Xeo.

Xeo, thank you for your help and I hope I may quote you here:

> @saidy afaik, you generally connect adjectives with the て-form. So I'd wager
> it works here, too: 「本は高くなくて大きくなくてもいいです。」
>
> I may be totally wrong, though. Better wait until one of the gurus answer
> this :)

Is this the correct way to connect adjectives in this case?

Thank you for reading this far. Any help is appreciated.




No, the answer you got in chat is not quite right.

> 「[本]{ほん}は[高]{たか}くなくて[大]{おお}きくなくて **も** いいです。」

You would need to use 「も」 twice to make it grammatical. You could say:

> 「本は高くなくて **も** 、大きくなくて **も** いいです。」

The sentence is grammatical now, but it just does not sound very natural. As a
Japanese-speaker, I could **_not_** imagine someone saying this sentence in
real life. If it were a catch copy in advertisement (perhaps for e-books), it
would sound pretty natural.

You could also say something like:

> 「本は高い[必要]{ひつよう} **も** なければ、大きい必要 **も** ありません。」

Either way, you would need to use 「も」 twice. It is as though you would need to
use "n" twice in saying " **n** either A **n** or B".




No, the answer you got in chat is not quite right.

> 「[本]{ほん}は[高]{たか}くなくて[大]{おお}きくなくて **も** いいです。」

You would need to use 「も」 twice to make it grammatical. You could say:

> 「本は高くなくて **も** 、大きくなくて **も** いいです。」

The sentence is grammatical now, but it just does not sound very natural. As a
Japanese-speaker, I could **_not_** imagine someone saying this sentence in
real life. If it were a catch copy in advertisement (perhaps for e-books), it
would sound pretty natural.

You could also say something like:

> 「本は高い[必要]{ひつよう} **も** なければ、大きい必要 **も** ありません。」

Either way, you would need to use 「も」 twice. It is as though you would need to
use "n" twice in saying " **n** either A **n** or B".

