So I’ve been making lots of flash cards in Anki, filling in the gaps around WaniKani before the JLPT this December. But my textbooks each write な adjectives differently in their vocabulary lists. Some write the word alone (きれい) and others write it with な (きれいな). I can’t decide what’s more useful when making my own flash cards. I notice Jisho.org leaves off な, which makes sense since a な adjective is also a noun on it’s own.
tldr: do you add な to な adjectives when you make a flashcard?
But if you want my opinion, I’d go for きれい over きれいな. Here’s why:
There are nouns that can also be na adjectives. Think 静か that means silence, but as 静かな (na adjective) it means silent. If you’re learning it as 静かな, you’re missing out on one usage of it (even though it’s the less common one).
But this raises the question of not knowing when it’s a na adjective. Well, you can easily distinguish them from i adjectives with a simple rule: in kanji form, the last い is ALWAYS in hiragana. Think 美味しい、面白い、etc. きれい might seem like an i adjective, but it’s not. Its kanji form is 綺麗. See, no い sticking out.
If you wanna distinguish na adjective from nouns and both nouns and na adjectives, the meaning is usually the bait. If it means silent, it’s clearly a na adjective. If it means silence, it’s clearly telling you that it’s a noun. If it has both, is it both
Wow, great reply I think I will continue leaving it out. My JLPT study guide insists on including it in vocab lists, which made me uncertain about how I’ve been making flash cards so far.