Do na-adjectives have an attributive negative form?


Assuming present tense, we can use i-adjectives in an attributive context both
in the affirmative form:

> 高い 椅子 が あります - there's an expensive chair

And in the negative form:

> 高くない 椅子 が あります - there's an inexpensive chair

* * *

I know we can use na-adjectives similarly in the affirmative form:

> 綺麗な 人 が います - there's a pretty person

But for the life of me I can't find any info on whether using na-adjectives in
the negative form is allowed in an attributive context (i.e. modifying a noun
rather than as a predicative with a copula). So is the following grammatical?

> 綺麗じゃない 人 が います - there's a non-pretty person




Your guessed-at negative attributive is perfectly correct. The only caveat I'd
add is that じゃ is a somewhat-informal contraction for では, and thus you should
probably use the full では form in any formal spoken or written context.

> 綺麗[じゃ]{●}ない 人 が います  
>            ↓  
>  綺麗[で]{●}[は]{●}ない 人 が います

Happy studying!




Your guessed-at negative attributive is perfectly correct. The only caveat I'd
add is that じゃ is a somewhat-informal contraction for では, and thus you should
probably use the full では form in any formal spoken or written context.

> 綺麗[じゃ]{●}ない 人 が います  
>            ↓  
>  綺麗[で]{●}[は]{●}ない 人 が います

Happy studying!

