Improve 未然形 of adjectives?

[qsantos]

In chapter "Verb grammar", section "Inflection bases", the 未然形 of various adjectives is given as 高く, 楽しく, 薄く and 大きく. Similarly, in section "Basic inflections", the 未然形 of ない is said to be なく.

However, the Wiktionary gives 高かろ, 楽しかろ, 薄かろ, 大きかろ and なかろ. This way feels more consistent with section "Pseudo-future: おう/よう" from chapter "More grammar", since the pseudo-future is then made simply by adding "う" to the 未然形 of either verbs or verbal adjectives. Granted, this then implies changing the description of the negations of verbal adjectives.

Is the 未然形 of adjective a strictly-defined thing? If so, which way is the correct way? If not, which one is the more practical?

Thanks for clarifying this part!

[Pomax]

Sorry for never noticing this issue - that does look like a mistake. The modern 未然形 is -かろ, from the classic 未然形 -から (+ something, such as ぬ, the 連用形 of ず). Classic Japanese used -く as 本活用, "literary form", but it's not used in modern Japanese, so I will update the text as best I can. Additionally, for 形容詞 things like ない follow the 連用形, not the 未然形, so things are twice-wrong O_o

[qsantos]

Don't worry, and thanks for writing this great resource by the way :-)

[xerpi]

Hi! Was this fixed at the end? I can't find any commit related to this. Thanks for the awesome guide nonetheless!

[lynn]

Perhaps it is worth mentioning (as l'électeur does here) that:

「ない」 attached to verbs is an auxiliary verb while 「ない」 attached to adjectives is an adjective.

Wiktionary says almost the same thing:

Etymology 2: the ない that negates adjectives

• Derived from 無し.
• Analyzed as an adjective
• When used as an auxiliary adjective, follows the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of -i adjectives ending in く (-ku), and the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of -na adjectives and nominals ending in で (de).

Etymology 3: the ない that negates verbs

• Dervied maybe from ぬ, maybe from ない etymology 2…?
• Analyzed as a suffix
• Attaches to the 未然形 (mizenkei, “incomplete form”) of the verb.

The only difference is that l'électeur says the ない in 歩かない is a helper verb, and Wiktionary says it's a suffix. I don't suppose there is a simple true answer here (though note l'électeur is a native speaker).

[Pomax]

This has not been fixed yet, I just keep not having enough time to get to it =(

[lynn]

@Pomax If I made a PR rewriting things the way I think is right (following @qsantos's and your own comments, and l'électeur's stance on ない), would it help? Or would checking my work be just as much work as doing it yourself?

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PS, I ended up writing a question on the Japanese StackExchange inspired by this confusion: “Does the 未然形 of i-adjectives show up in today's Japanese?”

Basically I asked about the purported-未然形 (“高かろ”) form:

Is this 高かろ form used for anything else in modern-day Japanese, or is it somewhat an artifact of the past?

Bonus musings: would it be fair to say that 「高かろ is the 未然形 of 高い」 is an over-analysis based on 高かろう alone? Because I believe 高かろう is formed as a contracted 高から + arou, and I believe there is a sense in which you can consider 高から the true 未然形 of 高い. Maybe there are no hard answers here, and 未然形 of i-adjectives is a nebulous concept anyway.

Eiríkr Útlendi's informative answer confirmed some of my hunches about 形容詞の未然形. It may be relevant to others who end up at this issue.

[Pomax]

Nice. If you want to write the text you think is better, I'll be happy to review it.