Questions tagged [irregularities-exceptions]
Questions about any aspect of Japanese where there is a common rule which has a few exceptions, such as the irregular verbs.
27 questions
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Is there a difference between ふたり or ににん?
In the phrase 2人組, is there any difference between the readings ２人組 【ふたりぐみ】and ２人組 【ににんぐみ】?
I found it in this sentence:
男性によると、路上飲みをしていた2人組が、そのまま路上で寝始めたといいます
According to the man, a couple who were ...
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1
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Strange conjugation of 煎る ー is it an irregular verb?
I looked up いる in the OJAD Pitch Accent Dictionary, which shows every verb conjugation and the pitch accent of each conjugation. 要る and 入る, and 居る and 射る were conjugated as I would have expected, as ...
- 185
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pitch accent exception that changes from heiban to atamadaka (学校)
I am using the anki N5 and N4 vocabulary decks based on the 日本語総まとめ books (edition is ask). As far as I know 学校 is always heiban but in that example:
日本語の学校を見学します。
in the audio to me it sounds like ...
- 115
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Why is Fugu (フグ) spelled in katakana? Isn't it usually only used for english words? [duplicate]
i was doing some research because i have to design a logo for a japanese restaurant. I saw that people usually spell it in katakana even though you only use katakana with english words/names (to my ...
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1
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891
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What is the difference between しない and じゃない?
So as the title says,
What is the difference between しない and じゃない?
And is じゃない even a verb?
I know that しない comes from する.
It's in the negative form. (It should be mizenkei)
But when I tried to ...
2
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0
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118
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Why are some terms for relative time irregular?
For current time the Kanji 今{いま} for "now" can always used. Why is it that Kanji for previous (去 / 昨 / 先) and next (来 / 明) times are different and have irregular readings? In some cases it ...
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Why is 運命 read as さだめ? [duplicate]
The very first lyric of the song "Fighting Gold" goes like this:
夢を縛りつける 重たい運命の石に
And everything makes sense except for the fact that the singer reads 運命 as さだめ. Why?
- 21
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1
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Syntactic Properties of "Bare Numerals": 「一」in「其の一」
I am currently attempting to research the syntax of nominal classifiers (i.e. "counter" words like 「〜台」and 「〜個」) and wanted to look for references to the irregular phenomenon of "bare" numerals: ...
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Can 々 stand for a duplicated kanji with a different reading?
The title may not be so clear, here is what I mean:
々 is used to avoid repeating a kanji. In some cases, the two may not be pronounced the same because the first consonant of the second kanji is ...
- 2,124
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Is there a difference between 行くった and 行った or is the first one grammatically wrong?
When I want to write ‘Today I went to Nagoya.’ Which one is correct?
今日は名古屋に行くった。
Or
今日は名古屋に行った。
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2
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I-Adjectives in the Kagoshima dialect
In this Wikipedia article, in the table of i-adjectives, I noticed that some of these adjectives were completely different in the Kagoshima dialect compared to Standard Japanese in a way that these ...
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Etymology of the irregularities in day-of-the-month numerals
It is of course well known that the numbers used to count days are based on the Japonic numerals, but with a bunch of irregularities when compared to the つ-numbers. Compare
1 ひとつ ついたち
2 ふたつ ふつか
3 ...
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1
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Exceptions to kanji readings
あなた can be written in kanji as 貴方.
However, I noticed that no combination of the readings of those two characters is at all similar to the pronunciation they produce together - this is the first time ...
- 654
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1
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408
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On なる and Adverbs
I'm a beginner learner, just learnt about なる and I'm curious about なる vs other verbs when it comes to adverbs.
When using an adverb like 早く on a verb, it modifies the action or manner of the verb. ...
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3
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Why is 来る spelled with kanji and する is not?
来る and する are two irregular and most commonly used verbs. From my observations, 来る is spelled with kanji. Even though there is a kanji version of する 為る it is usually not used and I wonder why. Are ...
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Understanding the subtleties behind [noun]する vs [noun]だ
I still notice this when I see [verbal noun]する instead of [verbal noun]だ. While I understand the meaning of both, I'm missing the qualities that often make する or がある seem to be a more natural choice ...
- 5,405
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Why are 来る and する irregular?
I know that there are more irregular verbs than just this, but their changes are mostly euphonic and not really of any interest to me. What I would like to know is why 来る and する have developed the way ...
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2
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Why is する considered irregular?
Yes, this sounds like a really confusing question. But I suddenly realized that する seemed to be a perfectly regular 上二段活用 (kami nidan; upper bigrade) verb with a stem of s-:
未然形: し (as in しない)
連用形: し ...
- 3,045
16
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2
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Why isn't ある's negative form あらない?
ある is listed in dictionaries as having ラ行五段活用, which would suggest a negative form of あらない. However, that form does not exist. Why not?
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Are there more irregular verbs like 行く?
I thought when you have a consonant-stem verb ending with -ku you replace it with -ita. For example kaku ("to write") becomes kaita.
But this doesn't happen with iku, which becomes itta, so I guess ...
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Why is it なさそう and not なそう
"It seems there is none" is なさそう, which escapes the usual rule for 形容詞 (イ-adjectives), which says "drop the い and add そう".
Is there a historical explanation for this exception? And does it have ...
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14
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2
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802
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Irregularity of あ-series in demonstratives
Why is the あ-series in demonstratives irregular like the following:
ここ そこ あ そこ どこ
(expected あこ)
こう そう あ あ どう
(expected あう)
Is it related to the fact that こ, そ, ど ...
user458
15
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2
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Why is the stroke order of も peculiar?
In most hiragana the horizonal stokes are drawn first, but も is an exception. Is there any reason for this?
user1009
5
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2
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For verbs with irregular humble/honorific forms, are the regular forms still used?
There are verbs with irregular humble forms, e.g. the humble form of 借りる is 拝借する.
For these verbs, are the "normal humble conjugations" still used, or considered grammatical?
Would お借りする be ...
- 12k
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Exceptional compounding forms
There are a number of Japanese words which have distinct compounding forms:
-a/-e alternation: 天・雨、酒、上、風、目 — many examples.
-u/-i alternation: 神（[神]{かむ}[集]{つど}ふ）、月（[月]{つく}[読]{よみ}）
-o/-i alternation: ...
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What are some well known exceptions for 居る (いる) and 有る (ある)?
Today I heard 人形がいる, so I googled around because I thought 居る was only for living things, but I found many examples of this usage. Many for 人形がある as well.
Are there other exceptions for いる／ある？
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Why are the particles "は" (ha⇒wa), "へ" (he⇒e), and "を" (wo⇒o) not spelled phonetically?
As far as I know only three words (or particles) have irregular, non-phonetic spelling in Japanese:
"は" - The topic particle is pronounced "wa" but the kana is otherwise pronounced "ha"
"へ" - The ...
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