第06課: Adjectives II: ナリ & タリ
Adjectival nouns function no differently to how they behave in Modern Japanese, but because they require being coupled with copula verbs to function as conjugatable parts of speech, their bases have evolved with whichever copula verb they are coupled with.
In Classical Japanese, there are two classes of adjectival nouns: ナリ型形容動詞 (the predecessor of 形容動詞 in Modern Japanese) and タリ型形容動詞.
ナリ型形容動詞
As the name ナリ型形容動詞 suggests, this predecessor class of adjectival nouns utilize the copula verb なり.
| 未然形 | 連用形 | 終止形 | 連体形 | 已然形 | 命令形 |
| なら | なり・に | なり | なる | なれ | なれ |
With exception to the に-連用形 (adverbial form), these bases exhibit ラ変 conjugation, and how these bases are used mirrors how the the bases for adjectives behave. The なる-連体形 could be followed by both nominals and auxiliary verbs alike, as those are rights endowed to it by the copula verb involved.
A large percentage of these adjectival nouns were created by adding the suffixes to ～か, ～やか, and ～らか to adjectival roots.
1. 三、四町を吹きまくる間に、こもれる家ども、大きなる小さきも、一つとして破れざるはなし。
There was not a single house big or small not destroyed in the fire that blew away three, four towns.
From the 方丈記.
Grammar Notes:
1. ども is used frequently to pluralize items in Classical Japanese.
2. The 連体形 can be used to show nominalization.
3. ざる is the 連体形 of the negative auxiliary verb -ず.
2. 心も静かならず。
The heart is unsettled.
From the 徒然草.
3. あまねく紅なる中に
Throughout the completely red sky
From the 方丈記.
4. 心おのづから静かなれば
Since the heart was naturally quite,
From the 徒然草.
5. 風烈しく吹きて 静かならざらし夜 戌の時許 都の東南より火出で来て 西北に至る。
In the night at around eight o’ clock where the wind blew fiercely and did not settle down, a fire came from the southeast of the capital and went northwest.
From the 方丈記.
Auxiliary Note: The auxiliary verb ～き, shown here in the し-連体形, denotes retrospective past.
6. 心は縁にひかれて移るものなれば 閑かならでは道は行じ難し。
Since one’s heart is something that can be dragged and changed into another, if one’s mind is not quite, it is difficult to practice.
From the 徒然草.
Contraction Note: ～では is the contraction of ～ずには.
7.つれづれなるままに
Just as at one’s leisure
From the 徒然草.
8.中御門京極のほどより大きなる辻風起こりて
A large wind from Nakamikado Kyougoku occurred, then…
From the 方丈記.
9. いみじく静かに公に御文たてまつり給ふ。
She offered the letter to the emperor very quietly.
From the 竹取物語.
10. これをまことか尋ぬれば、昔ありし家は稀なり。
When I asked if this was true, I (was told that) old houses were rare.
From the 方丈記.
11. なかなか様変はりて優なるかたもはべり。
It was rather eccentric, and it was also elegant.
From the 方丈記.
敬語 Note: はべり is the honorific form of あり (to be) , and it is used here as an honorific variant of the copula.
Evolution Note: Not all ナリ型形容動詞 became 形容動詞 in Modern Japanese. Some, such as 大きなり, became ～なる-type 連体詞.
タリ型形容動詞
Of the few タリ型形容動詞 which existed in Classical Japanese, only a handful survived into Modern Japanese. These adjectives were rare in the Heian Period, but by the Edo Period, they had become fairly commonplace in military tales and kundoku 訓読 (Chinese writing transliterated into Japanese), perhaps due to their often emphatic nature. As the name suggests, タリ型形容動詞 conjugate via the help of the copula verb たり.
| 未然形 | 連用形 | 終止形 | 連体形 | 已然形 | 命令形 |
| たら | たり・と | たり | たる | たれ | たれ |
With exception to the と-連用形 (adverbial form), these bases exhibit ラ変 conjugation.
12. さつさつとよをわたるべし。
You should get along in the world refreshingly.
From the 副王百羽.
13.涼風颯々たりし夜なか半に
In the middle of the night with a refreshing cool breeze
From the 平家物語.
14. 茫々とした大草原
An expansive large grassland
15. 王宮の体を見るに、外郭渺々として、其内曠々たり。
Looking at the state of the lord’s palace, the outer walls appear unending, and the grounds within are expansive.
From the 平家物語.
16. 已に朦朧たり。
It is already misty.
17.荒涼たるその景色
The bleak landscape
From 或る女 by 有島武郎.
18. かの滋藤漫々たる海上を遠見して
The aforementioned Shigefuji looked afar over the vast sea.
From the 平家物語.
Exercises
1. Conjugate 索々（さくさく）たり meaning “rustling” into its bases.
2. What did most ナリ型形容動詞 become. Give an example.
3. How do you decide what 連用形 to use in respect to adjectives?
4. Conjugate 清（きよ）らなり meaning “beautiful” into its bases.