Quote:
Originally Posted by duo797
I'm sure you'll get an answer from Sashimister, but I'm gonna try to explain this to see if I grasp the concept myself. Take my answer with a grain of salt. I think in both cases it matters where the phrases are being placed in the sentence. If you're using 気が小さい to modify a noun that's following it (i.e. 気が小さい人) then you should use 気の小さい [気の小さい人]. This isn't required, but I've been told it sounds more natural and it also sounds softer. You can still use 気が小さい and be right, and I imagine it sounds better in certain places, but if it does that's a much more advanced topic than you or I need to be worried about at the moment. The same thing goes for 気がない. If you're using it to describe a word directly following it in the sentence, then say 気のない人.
If you're saying 'That person is timid' or 'I'm uninterested', then you would say あの人は気が小さい。 僕は気がない。 This is how I understand the differentiation, but obviously you should wait for someone much more talented than I to give you a definitive answer.
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That was pretty accurate.