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I want to say that a person is wonderful:

「素敵な人。」

Is there a more appropriate way to tell a person they are wonderful?　This is my entire sentence:

「あなたは素敵な人です。」

I want to use the term to say to a friend.

Jack Bosma
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  • If you look up 素敵 in a dictionary, what part of speech is it? (Is it a verb, noun, i-adjective, na-adjective, etc.) – Earthliŋ Jul 16 '18 at 12:09
  • I want to tell a person that they are wonderful. – Jack Bosma Jul 16 '18 at 12:10
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    I understand that, but you haven't shown us your research, which is why I'm asking you to look up the word in a dictionary and use this information in your attempt at a translation. – Earthliŋ Jul 16 '18 at 12:13
  • My translation attempt is based on Jisho. – Jack Bosma Jul 16 '18 at 12:37
  • And? Did you look for example sentences or Google around at all? The question has down votes because it looks like no effort was made before asking. – Leebo Jul 16 '18 at 12:44
  • I used Jisho and Tatoeba, Apparently suteki means lovely. I want to say wonderful. – Jack Bosma Jul 16 '18 at 12:54
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    did you try looking up "how to compliment someone in Japanese" or anything like that? – ericfromabeno Jul 16 '18 at 12:55
  • I wanted to know if this term can be used. – Jack Bosma Jul 16 '18 at 12:59
  • I know, I'm just trying to help you re-form the question so maybe the -2 goes away. ;) If you can, for example, say that you checked various websites, and found examples that were similar to what you want to say but not quite, and showed what those were, and how they don't fit, etc... that would show the effort necessary to merit an answer... I'd like to think that maybe my answer was downvoted because I helped too soon... though given my history, someone will probably point out a mistake that I didn't think was a mistake. – ericfromabeno Jul 16 '18 at 13:18
  • Apparently, there may be a better way to say it. – Jack Bosma Jul 16 '18 at 13:25
  • It seems to refer to females. – Jack Bosma Jul 16 '18 at 13:27
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    not exclusively. You can describe the appearance of certain items and places as "suteki", too. – ericfromabeno Jul 16 '18 at 13:39

1 Answers1

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yes, you can use 素敵(な) to describe a person as well as things and places, but be careful.

You can use it to describe things and places in a way that could mean they have a "charming" or "lovely" look and or feel:

素敵な店ですね！

When describing people, depending on context, it MIGHT be understood that you mean "wonderful", BUT in general, in regards to people, 素敵 is a description of their appearance, not their personality.

Q:テニス部のキャプテンはどんな人ですか？

A:素敵な人ですよ！

(in this Q&A, it's possible 素敵な人 could be understood to mean "wonderful", depending on the context of the entire conversation, but from just this Q&A, it will almost certainly be thought to mean "lovely/pretty")

あの子はすごく素敵ですよ！

That girl is so lovely!

If you want to complement a friend in a nice way, and you're not looking to deepen the friendship into a romance, it's more appropriate to use words like

いい人、やさしい人、親切な人

"wonderful" is a concept that is not really used to describe people, in Japanese. You can say 素晴らしい人　but it sounds very "over the top", and actually seems to place you in a position of "judging" them rather than complementing them, so I think it'd backfire on you.

ericfromabeno
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  • @JACK you were a little quick to accept my answer, since someone seems to feel it's wrong. Waiting for someone else to weigh in. – ericfromabeno Jul 16 '18 at 12:32
  • Generally it's advised that you wait a day or so to accept an answer, to give people a chance to submit their own answers anyway. – Leebo Jul 16 '18 at 12:37
  • I think I see why this was downvoted. attempting to fix. – ericfromabeno Jul 16 '18 at 13:41
  • I appreciate it. – Jack Bosma Jul 16 '18 at 13:55
  • @ericfromabeno I don't know why, either. – user4092 Jul 16 '18 at 17:17
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    Are you maybe confusing 素敵 with 綺麗? I don't see why you would think that 素敵 is about someone's "appearance, not their personality". – Earthliŋ Jul 22 '18 at 14:14
  • you are confusing the way I mean "in general", I think. In general, if you happen to use 素敵 to describe person, or you hear someone else describing a person that way, unless the usage is preceded by a discussion of that person's personality, the most common interpretation is that you are saying 素敵 about the way they look. I do NOT think 素敵 is only about appearance, but when you hear it used "out of the blue", in reference to a person or otherwise, it is likely to be about appearance. In general. In specific instances, of course it could be used to describe personality or other qualities. – ericfromabeno Jul 22 '18 at 14:24