Changing Nouns to Adjectives: ～的

的てき as a noun means “target” or “objective”; however, this kanji has one particularly useful grammatical usage: by appending it to certain nouns we can turn them into na-adjectives!

Noun	Adjective
政治せいじ	Politics
政治的せいじてき	Political

Noun	Adjective
環境かんきょう	Environment
環境的かんきょうてき	Environmental

Noun	Adjective
効率こうりつ	Efficiency
効率的こうりつてき	Efficient

Of course, like in English, this doesn’t work with all nouns. As a general rule of thumb, 〜的 attaches almost exclusively to abstract, two-kanji Sino-Japanese words (known as kango). It sounds very unnatural when attached to native Japanese words for physical, everyday objects:

Noun	Adjective
学校がっこう	School
学校的がっこうてき (✘)	Schoolitically?

それは楽観的らっかんてきな見方みかただよね。

That’s an optimistic outlook, eh?

昨日きのう見みた映画えいがが感動的かんどうてきだった。

The movie I watched yesterday was moving.

グローバルな対応たいおうが求もとめられる政治的せいじてきな課題かだいである。

A political issue that requires a global response.

Note the literary form of the auxiliary verb (である) at the end of the sentence. Most newspapers and academic essays will use this form rather than だ.

Because these words are now na-adjectives with the addition of 的, we can swap the な for に to turn them into adverbs.

具体的ぐたいてきに何なにが言いいたいの？

What exactly (specifically) do you want to say?

効率的こうりつてきに仕事しごとをする。

Work efficiently.

For some words, it is possible to drop the な in writing. When you do this, the two nouns link together to form a single compound noun.

政治的せいじてきな問題もんだい。

政治的問題せいじてきもんだい。

政治問題せいじもんだい。

A political problem.

現実的げんじつてきな視点してん。

現実的視点げんじつてきしてん。

現実視点げんじつしてん。(✘)

A realistic perspective.

There is no definitive rule regarding the omission of either the な or 的 in these compound setups, but including both is always grammatically correct and the safest bet for learners.

Informally, 的 is sometimes appended to conjugations of verbs to create a casual “that sort of thing” or “kinda like” expression. For instance, if someone is vaguely insinuating that they would like you to give them a lift somewhere, you might say the following to make them get to the point.

連つれて行いけ的てきな？

“Take me with you” sort of thing?

It is not correct grammar, per se, but you will hear this structure frequently in casual conversation and pop culture, so it’s well worth knowing.