Hello everyone! I’ve recently done some side-research, due to various things I’ve seen on Lang-8 that I did not completely understand. One of those things was the difference between ookii/ookina and chisai/chisana. This is what I found out:

- 大きい and 小さい are to be used when the size is measurable in a physical way.
Example: 車は大きい/ちいさいです。　
The car is big/small.

- 大きな and 小さな can be used when size is measurable, but also for more abstract subjects such as problems, simply put: things that you cannot measure. However, it can only be used right before the noun it is describing.
Example: 大きな問題がある。
There is a big problem/I have a big problem.

These are interchangable 90% of the time, but I’d say 大きな and 小さな have a wider coverage.

I hope this cleared up some confusion for those of you who have also encountered this! Here is my source (it was pretty easy to find, really):

http://thejapanesepage.com/w/index.php?title=Ookii_vs_ookina

• This topic was modified 10 years, 2 months ago by  Dylan Kaizer.