Is This Right? (Language Question)

[Momiji Love]

[SIZE=1]Alright...I don't even know where I found it,but wherever it was it said "chou kawaii" means 'super cute'.

I was talking to my friend Ayla and she said it was "chou no kawaii".I didn't think that was right,but I neither her are huge Japanese language buffs.

So who is right? If either of us?[/SIZE]

[wrist cutter]

[QUOTE=Momiji Love]Alright...I don't even know where I found it,but wherever it was it said "chou kawaii" means 'super cute'.

I was talking to my friend Ayla and she said it was "chou no kawaii".I didn't think that was right,but I neither her are huge Japanese language buffs.

So who is right? If either of us?[/QUOTE]

"chou" can be used as a prefix, so there's no need to say "chou no kawaii"... just say "chou kawaii". It's so informal anyway, even if it did need a "no" no one would say it.

[Jin]

[COLOR=Navy][B]You are sort of right, I think there is just saying kawaii is just plain easier to say.[/B][/COLOR]

[wrist cutter]

[quote name='Jin][COLOR=Navy][B]You are sort of right, I think there is just saying kawaii is just plain easier to say.[/B'][/COLOR][/quote]

...well yeah it's easier, that's not the point. Saying "kawaii" is not the same as saying "chou kawaii". It's a different meaning. Whether or not one is shorter is irrelevant.

[Raiyuu]

[color=DarkGreen][font=Trebuchet MS]With Japanese, it's usually safe to assume that particles like [i]"no"[/i] are optional in informal situations. So much of Japanese is context-related, they tend to just leave out parts of the sentence if they think it's possible to work out the meaning from the situation. So while [i]"chou no kawaii"[/i] is correct Japanese, the [i]"no"[/i] is optional in an informal, spoken context.

I don't think I actually added anything new there, but I just wanted to show off what limited knowledge of Japanese I have... :animeswea
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[Raiyuu]

[color=DarkGreen][font=Trebuchet MS]We weren't talking about how to make things negative, unless I've read the question really wrong (which is entirely possible, it's me after all). The particle [i]"no" [/i]doesn't make the utterance negative, it indicates ownership (so [i]Watashi no neko[/i] means 'my cat'), and in this case ([i]"chou no kawaii"[/i]) it indicates that [i]chou[/i] (super) refers to [i]kawaii [/i](cute)[i].

[/i]The [i]janai desu [/i]construction does indeed make sentences negative, but I'm not sure how it's relevant to this original question :animeshy:
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[wrist cutter]

[quote name='Blackjack][color=DarkGreen]So while [i]"chou no kawaii"[/i] is correct Japanese, the [i]"no"[/i'] is optional in an informal, spoken context.[/quote]

I don't really think "no" would be used at all in this case because "kawaii" isn't a noun. It doesn't really make sense to include "no" before an adjective. But as you said, "chou" is so informal there's really little reason to even consider it.

Basically, if you're in a formal situation, just don't say "chou" at all.

[Latharix_sama]

:animeshy: I've had the same kind of problems with those kind of words. I too have pondered whether or not I should use the "no". I just gave up wondering and used no anyway. I say things like: baka no gomi, nama no gomi, watashi no bishounen, etc. If you really want to know if it's okay to leave the no out, go to one of those english/japanese translators, they are very helpful. :animesmil