47
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Why is Katakana not pronounced Katagana?
This phenomenon is called 連濁 (rendaku). The basic rules for rendaku can be found in the following question, so please take a look at it first:
Rules or criteria for 連濁: Voiced or unvoiced syllables ...
- 330k
13
votes
What are the pitch-accent rules for compound nouns?
So, Toshihiko's answer gives the answer for the normal case, but there is a whole other facet of this issue:
Do two nouns always compound or not?
And the answer is that in many cases they do not. I ...
- 16.3k
12
votes
What is the correct reading of 火防女?
The name of this NPC is ひもりめ in hiragana (Himorime in romaji).
ひ is the most common kun-reading of 火.
もり corresponds to 防, but this is a nonstandard kun-reading even native Japanese speakers do not ...
- 330k
10
votes
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What is 上がり refering to in this sentence?
Here 上がり is connected not to 床 but to 呼吸(が). 呼吸が上がる is a set phrase meaning "to be out of breath". 息が上がる and 息が切れる mean the same. Perhaps it's related to the thirteenth definition here. The masu-stem ...
- 330k
9
votes
Accepted
有り難う vs 有難う — Is this the same word?
Both are different spellings of ありがとう, neither is more formal, although all three spellings may be differentiated by frequency (see below).
ありがとう "thank you" may be derived from ありがたい through sound ...
- 48.3k
8
votes
人 - on'yomi ニン or ジン rule of thumb
人 following a place name is read as じん: 関西人, 韓国人, 宇宙人
人 following the name of a field or a social group is read as じん: 芸能人, 業界人, 社会人
人 following a number is read as にん: 三人, 五人
人 following a suru-verb ...
- 330k
8
votes
Accepted
Why is vegetable 野菜 and not just 菜?
Well, this isn't totally a Japanese problem, but a nature of Chinese vocabulary.
You said "菜 by itself mean vegetable", but more exactly speaking, 菜【さい】 means:
"edible plant": 菜食, 山菜, 菜園 etc.
"dish (...
- 52.3k
8
votes
grammar - 接続 of compound words ending with verb-ず
If you already know the masu-stem of some verbs can act as a noun or na-/no-adjective, you can think these ず-words are almost the same except that negation is included as part of the word. That is to ...
- 330k
7
votes
What does the word 「ちゃらくさい」mean?
Most likely it is ちゃらい＋くさい, meaning 'really gaudy/cheap' or 'reeking of gaudiness'.
When used as a suffix, ～くさい usually adds a negative connotation to whatever precedes it. This can be used in the ...
- 11.6k
6
votes
有り難う vs 有難う — Is this the same word?
Yes, they're both the same.
It's just an alternate spelling, think color vs. colour.
Not to my knowledge.
- 789
6
votes
Pronunciation of 年
I think it might be much more helpful for you to think of "words" having "writings" rather than "characters" having "readings".
For instance, as a speaker or learner or Japanese you know the "word" ...
- 7,431
6
votes
Why is Katakana not pronounced Katagana?
Unfortunately I think there is no logical explanation.
Even a pair of 2 identical kanjis may have "both versions" eg when used in names.
One example is 大島 ("big island"), with the "大島" that island ...
- 967
5
votes
Accepted
Is [馬面]{うまづら} a facial expression or a type of face shape?
I searched for the meaning in Japanese (googled 馬面の意味) and got the following:
馬の顔のように長い顔。
From this, I feel that it is safe to assume that by 'long face' they were talking about the physical shape ...
- 7,109
5
votes
Accepted
Do 山人 and 仙人 have the same meaning of they mean different things?
I don't typically consider these the same words, despite similar origins.
山人 {やまびと} to me specifically refers to people living in the mountains, as hermits or in small villages.
仙人 {せんにん} implies ...
- 4,448
5
votes
Accepted
How to approach compound verbs?
There are two types of compound verbs: syntactic and lexical.
According to Compound Verb Lexicon, there are 30 syntactic compound verbs in Japanese. You can find the full list in the link (Click "...
- 330k
4
votes
Accepted
Why does gemination happen in many 真 compounds?
(Seems like we're not getting anything more specific, so I'll format my comments as an answer for ease of future reference.)
The electronic edition of the Kokugo Dajiten has it like this:
接頭語「ま」...
- 5,469
4
votes
Accepted
can the same compound have different readings when having the same meaning?
Can the same compound have different readings when having the same meaning?
Yes!
There are two ways of reading Kanji. One is "訓読み" the Japanese reading of a Chinese character(Kanji) and the ...
- 2,906
4
votes
Accepted
A question about the usage of なるべく
なるべく may be close to the English word "preferably" and it doesn't always mean "as much as possible". For example, you can say なるべく静かにしてね (Please keep as quiet as possible).
"なるべく + adverb" means "as ...
- 24.3k
4
votes
Accepted
Order of compound particles
Yes, the order matters. Since things before the と will be treated as a part of the quote, お前とはもう別れたいまでと言われた sounds like he actually said "別れたいまで", which makes no sense in this context. It's somewhat ...
- 330k
4
votes
Accepted
What's the difference between 取り消す vs 取り下げる?
取り下げる is used with an accusation, a bill (law), an academic article, a statement of opinion, etc. Its use is limited to withdrawing things related to someone's claim or opinion. 取り消す is simply "to ...
- 330k
4
votes
Kanji compounds with the same meaning
Compound words are made of kanji, but each kanji is not necessarily "words" that can be used on its own. Consider, in English, telepathy is made of tele- and -pathy, both of which have some ...
- 330k
4
votes
Can '渡 + country' be generalized to say 'going to country' for any country?
I've never heard of 渡亜 and 渡印(or at least as far as I can recall).
I believe that it's (almost) only used with 渡米, 渡英 and 渡欧(Going to Europe).
Perhaps it may be used in very formal situations, but so ...
- 1,992
3
votes
Accepted
Why is the State of the Union Address Called 一般教書演説?
As user27280 mentions, in English it used to be known by a different name:
Has the Message Always Been Known by this Name?
The message was generally known as “the President’s Annual Message to
...
- 8,544
3
votes
A question about the usage of なるべく
I would say that なるべく, when it is modifying not an adjective or adverb but a verb phrase, (as in your examples) means you'll do something if possible, often with the connotation that you'll make your ...
- 6,174
3
votes
Accepted
Is 大判小判 a word on its own?
In fairy tales, yes, we sometimes hear 大判小判 almost as a set phrase. 大判小判がざっくざく is a famous 4-4-5 sound phrase found in a children's song called 花咲かじいさん. I think this phrase is known to most Japanese ...
- 330k
3
votes
What's the difference between compound words 複合語 and kanji compound 熟語?
Admittedly it's occasionally difficult to tell apart a 熟語 and a 複合語, and there are different opinions. Here I will explain how I use these terms, based on their "narrow" definitions.
熟語 are rarely ...
- 330k
3
votes
What does まんが in this passage mean?
As @naruto cited in his comment, it is a title of an anime series (not manga medium-wise, though).
If so why is it not 日本昔話まんが but まんが日本昔話?
日本昔話まんが would sound like "a Japanese fairy tale comic&...
- 52.3k
3
votes
Adjectives ending in らしい
From https://www.japanesewithanime.com/2019/01/rashii.html
可愛らしい vs. 可愛いらしい
An important thing to note is that when you have an i-adjective the suffix rashii replaces the -i ～い ending, but the ...
- 141
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