I understand that both mean "big elephant", but is there any nuance that differs both? I had first learnt that 大きい was a ~い-adjective, so I don't quite understand why I see 大きな so often.The same goes for 小さい象 and 小さな象.. Created by Phil L. society-culture-en - languages-en

Japanese - What's the difference between 大きい象 and 大きな象?

May 2021 2 124 Report

Japanese - What's the difference between 大きい象 and 大きな象?

I understand that both mean "big elephant", but is there any nuance that differs both?

I had first learnt that 大きい was a ~い-adjective, so I don't quite understand why I see 大きな so often.

The same goes for 小さい象 and 小さな象.

Just the same.

Grammatically, "大きい" is an adjective, and "大きな" is called a prenoun adjectival, which has only an attribute form.

Most Japanese people don't distinguish one from the other.

"大きい" can be used as a predicate, but "大きな" is used only as an attribute.

"大きい" as a pridicate is an end-form, and when saying "大きい象,"

"大きい" is an attribute form.

The attribute form "大きい" can be replaced by "大きな."

Do you understand?

My Japanese teacher tells us that 大きい can only be used only for tangible items while 大きな can be used for intangible things too.

like you can say　大きな夢

but not 大きい夢

For tangible objects, both can be used. e.g. 花

same for 小さい and 小さな