二 vs ふたつ

[Azarashi]

Ok so i m just confused a bit and wanted to know if i can trust what it says because it says that 二（ni） is two and google says that ふたつ also is two but there says that ふたつ means second month. I guess i shouldn't trust what google translate says so back to my question is this site reliable? and so two is ni or futa?
Nihongo o Narau - First Year Kanji here is the site
Oh and i open it and at start everything works but then after some time i can open only what i already had opened and nothing new someone knows why?

 

[lanthas]

二 is the mathematical number 2. ふたつ (二つ) means "two things" (used when counting stuff). You'll also see other variants based on what is being counted, for example 二人 (ふたり - two people), 二輪 (にりん - two flowers/two wheels) etc. See Wikipedia.

ふたつ does not mean "second month", in fact the website doesn't even say that: it correctly mentions にがつ for February. Alternatively, you can say 二ヶ月 (にかげつ) to indicate a time duration of two months.

 

[Azarashi]

二 is the mathematical number 2. ふたつ (二つ) means "two things" (used when counting stuff). You'll also see other variants based on what is being counted, for example 二人 (ふたり - two people), 二輪 (にりん - two flowers/two wheels) etc. See Wikipedia.

ふたつ does not mean "second month", in fact the website doesn't even say that: it correctly mentions にがつ for February. Alternatively, you can say 二ヶ月 (にかげつ) to indicate a time duration of two months.

So both ふた and に can mean two and if yes when do you use に and when ふた and since 二 means two and 月 means month i guess ^^ it directly translates to second month not February but well maybe its adapted for modern use and used to meant something else so i don't know just assuming.

 

[lanthas]

ふた is a valid pronunciation for the number 2 according to the dictionary, but に is much more common; just use に always.

月 indeed means "month" (or "moon"). And if you look at the individual kanji for 二月 it indeed seems to mean only "two months" or "second month". However, as a word it gains extra meaning that is not indicated by the kanji, namely that it is the second month *of the year*, i.e. February. And this is the only meaning it has: it's always February. You can't use it to say "two months from now".

 

[Azarashi]

ふた is a valid pronunciation for the number 2 according to the dictionary, but に is much more common; just use に always.

月 indeed means "month" (or "moon"). And if you look at the individual kanji for 二月 it indeed seems to mean only "two months" or "second month". However, as a word it gains extra meaning that is not indicated by the kanji, namely that it is the second month *of the year*, i.e. February. And this is the only meaning it has: it's always February. You can't use it to say "two months from now".

Ok thanks and yes that's what i meant second month and it just gains meaning February since that's the second month. And well in my Language it's the same, month and moon is same word "mēnes"

 

[Toritoribe]

二人, 二月, 二日, 二晩, 二筆, 二服, 二振, 二言, 二箱, 二口, 二切れ, 二通り,,,,
Basically, ふた is used with kun'yomi/Japanese origin counters, but there are many exceptions, for instance, 晩 is on'yomi in the examples above or 二箱 also can be read にはこ. Plus, some words change the meaning depending on the reading. 二月[にがつ] means "February", whereas 二月[ふたつき] is "two months".

 

[Azarashi]

二人, 二月, 二日, 二晩, 二筆, 二服, 二振, 二言, 二箱, 二口, 二切れ, 二通り,,,,
Basically, ふた is used with kun'yomi/Japanese origin counters, but there are many exceptions, for instance, 晩 is on'yomi in the examples above or 二箱 also can be read にはこ. Plus, some words change the meaning depending on the reading. 二月[にがつ] means "February", whereas 二月[ふたつき] is "two months".

So に is for second and ふた is two like にりん as second flower and ふたりん two flowers or i m getting it wrong? ^^ (plus りん means flower right?)

 

[lanthas]

輪 as a counter suffix (like in 二輪 (にりん)) indicates that you're counting flowers or wheels. As a standalone noun it means "ring"/"wheel"/"hoop" etc., but not "flower" - that's 花 (はな). On the other hand, 花 cannot be used as a counter suffix.

二輪 means "two flowers/wheels" - if you want to say "the second flower" you add "目": 二輪目 (にりんめ). There are exceptions to this though (see the "Ordinal numbers" section in the Wikipedia article).

 

[Toritoribe]

So に is for second and ふた is two like にりん as second flower and ふたりん two flowers or i m getting it wrong? ^^ (plus りん means flower right?)

Not really. You are completely misunderstanding about the concept of the counter, as already pointed out. You should read the wiki page about the counter you were provided.
The reading of 二 changes depending on the counter, not the meaning of 二. 二輪 can't be read ふたりん.

 

[Mike Cash]

Ok so i m just confused a bit and wanted to know if i can trust what it says because it says that 二（ni） is two and google says that ふたつ also is two but there says that ふたつ means second month. I guess i shouldn't trust what google translate says so back to my question is this site reliable? and so two is ni or futa?
Nihongo o Narau - First Year Kanji here is the site
Oh and i open it and at start everything works but then after some time i can open only what i already had opened and nothing new someone knows why?

I would guess that the reason you're confused is that you haven't realized the page is a REFERENCE material and not intended as a LESSON. In other words, it assumes you're studying/learning the language from something else. It isn't going to make sense unless you have a certain amount of knowledge of the language to help you put it in context.

I looked over some of the "lessons" on that site. They're worth what you paid for them.

 

[Azarashi]

Not really. You are completely misunderstanding about the concept of the counter, as already pointed out. You should read the wiki page about the counter you were provided.
The reading of 二 changes depending on the counter, not the meaning of 二. 二輪 can't be read ふたりん.

Ok thanks it's just that i m not native English speaker and i rushed trough it pretty fast and it was late so i didn't really understood what they mean with all that.^^

 

[Azarashi]

I would guess that the reason you're confused is that you haven't realized the page is a REFERENCE material and not intended as a LESSON. In other words, it assumes you're studying/learning the language from something else. It isn't going to make sense unless you have a certain amount of knowledge of the language to help you put it in context.

I looked over some of the "lessons" on that site. They're worth what you paid for them.

I understand that but well i have no idea where else i could learn kanji since one place says it means that second something else and third again something else. And i probably could find some book from what i can learn Japanese but then i would have to search half of the cities stores to find it and would probably have to pay 4 times the real price. So maybe there is some site or book you can get online you would recommend?

 

[nekojita]

You need to start off being aware that it is not as simple as "one kanji = one English meaning". You need to learn the words in which they are used. There are many common compound words where you cannot easily guess the meaning from the separate kanji (e.g. 切手 ). There are some words which have special readings which don't match up with the readings on kanji lists (e.g. 二十歳 ).

2001.Kanji.Odyssey is a great resource. They do have some sample material you can see online. The style of their practice questions/workbook is very good in my opinion. You can also look at Erin's Challenge, (a good supplement to a textbook) because you can switch between full kanji/kana or just kana or romaji or English for pretty much everything. This site is free, and created by the Japan Foundation, so more reliable than most of the **** floating about on the internet.

 

[Azarashi]

You need to start off being aware that it is not as simple as "one kanji = one English meaning". You need to learn the words in which they are used. There are many common compound words where you cannot easily guess the meaning from the separate kanji (e.g. 切手 ). There are some words which have special readings which don't match up with the readings on kanji lists (e.g. 二十歳 ).

2001.Kanji.Odyssey is a great resource. They do have some sample material you can see online. The style of their practice questions/workbook is very good in my opinion. You can also look at Erin's Challenge, (a good supplement to a textbook) because you can switch between full kanji/kana or just kana or romaji or English for pretty much everything. This site is free, and created by the Japan Foundation, so more reliable than most of the **** floating about on the internet.

Thanks for sites I understand that they will have allot of meanings but when one place says that kanji means fire and other site says that it means tree doubts emerge and if i remember correctly that kanji didn't mean nether fire or tree.

 

[nekojita]

I would be very surprised to see mistakes that significant. I mean, you do have cases like 火 (fire) which in the days of the week is "Tuesday" (火曜日), and things like that which might be surprising to a beginner, but actually giving a completely wrong "meaning"? There is a lot of bad info on the internet, but usually it's not that blatant. Do look out for very similar kanji which are easy to mix up, e.g. 土 vs. 士 are two which are both quite common.

The safest thing is to stay well away from any source that assigns a "meaning" but can't give an example word where the kanji is used with that meaning to back it up. The same for lists of "readings" without actual examples.

 

[Toritoribe]

Thanks for sites I understand that they will have allot of meanings but when one place says that kanji means fire and other site says that it means tree doubts emerge and if i remember correctly that kanji didn't mean nether fire or tree.

火: fire / Tuesday
木: tree/wood / Thursday
Are you learning days of the week or something?

 

[Azarashi]

Thanks for sites I understand that they will have allot of meanings but when one place says that kanji means fire and other site says that it means tree doubts emerge and if i remember correctly that kanji didn't mean nether fire or tree.

Well it was some time ago and not sure what kanji meant but i m pretty sure that it wasn't fire or tree and well i probably would assume that they are the same thing if would of saw them but actually it's not that hard to spot difference since i usually automatically associate shape with something and second one looks like plain and first one is more like big i. ^^ And Mike Cash suggested me "Genki" book and old copy is fairly cheap and i can even afford it ^^ so i shouldn't have problems like this anymore plus you gave me those sites.
And i just waned to say thanks to everyone and that you all are very nice kind and helpful people

 

[Azarashi]

火: fire / Tuesday
木: tree/wood / Thursday
Are you learning days of the week or something?

No i waned to check some kanji some time ago and one site said its fire and other said that its tree maybe it have something to do with weekdays but if i remember right kanji were bit more complicated then tree or fire so i don't know.

 

[Toritoribe]

It's highly likely that you misinterpreted the two different kanji as the same kanji, I suppose.

 

[Azarashi]

It's highly likely that you misinterpreted the two different kanji as the same kanji, I suppose.

Well everything is possible but as much as i remember it was same kanji and one page said its fire and other said its tree ^^ and well i just used it as an example why i m asking this question

 

[Toritoribe]

I bet your memory is wrong, since that's more possible than one of the two sites you saw is wrong or the two sites are both wrong, as far as judging from your posts so far.

 

[Azarashi]

I bet your memory is wrong, since that's more possible than one of the two sites you saw is wrong or the two sites are both wrong, as far as judging from your posts so far.

Well i don't know if i should say something but yeah.Thanks all i got my answer and i gonna buy old Genki book and learn from it.