いつ and なんじ

The7thSamurai · 10 Oct 2005

I just realised that the kanji for "when", いつ, and the kanji for "what time", なんじ are the same - 何時

How are you suppose to know what to say when you see that kanji? I can understand reading things in context, but you wouldn't know whether you're suppose to say "itsu" or "nanji" until the answering sentence, which comes after the question.

For example,
Q: いつ東京へ行きますか？
A: 明日行きます。

Q: なんじに東京へ行きますか？
A: ９：００に行きます。

Hmm, maybe I just answered my own question. Has it got anything to do with the ni particle? I.e., when you see に you know that it's なんじ, or can に come after itsu as well?

Elizabeth · 10 Oct 2005

いつに is possible, but at any rate いつ is conventionally written in hiragana which makes the distinction a little easier until the meaning becomes clear.

The7thSamurai · 10 Oct 2005

Ah really? Nice. Is it always written in hiragana? How about all those other question words like どこ、だれ、どちら、どなた、なんで etc.? I've been trying to write them in kanji lately when I write my notes.

Buntaro · 11 Oct 2005

Bucko,

As time goes by, the Japanese writing system is becoming simplified. By this, I mean some kanji are being replaced with kana. (This is a good thing, in my opinion.) どこ, etc., are examples of this. As a result, some words should not be written in kanji.

nice gaijin · 11 Oct 2005

There are other examples of words that have kanji but are more commonly written in hiragana, such as うまい, which can be written as 上手い or 美味い (similar to 美味しい／おいしい edit-sorry didn't catch that mistake earlier）. It's much easier and more common to leave these words in kana form.

I never write いつ in kanji, and usually if it's written in kanji it's more often than not なんじ

Damicci · 11 Oct 2005

I have a few friends who write 美味しい but I find normally it is based on context for some words. but 上手いand 上手 kinda mean the same thing "good/enjoyable" vs "skillful/ good" well just rambling on now.
but yeah I wouldn't worry too much about it unless the since like everyone else said you'll usually see the kana for it and not kanji.
上手そう umasou
上手そう jouzusou
@_@

Elizabeth · 11 Oct 2005

Damicci said:
I have a few friends who write 美味しい but I find normally it is based on context for some words. but 上手いand 上手 kinda mean the same thing "good/enjoyable" vs "skillfull/ good" well just rambling on now.
but yeah I wouldn't worry too much about it unless the since like everyone else said you'll usually see the kana for it and not kanji.
上手そう umasou
上手そう jouzusou
@_@

Yeah, I also think "umai" is just a more conversational version of jouzu.
The 美味い only refers to food (used by men) as far as I know.
I use mostly 旨い to mean things are on track or something went well and find it easier to convert the kanji since the meanings are so different respectively, but by all means everyone do whatever works for you....

studyonline · 11 Oct 2005

Bucko said:
Hmm, maybe I just answered my own question. Has it got anything to do with the ni particle? I.e., when you see に you know that it's なんじ, or can に come after itsu as well?

We do not say いつに. This に is "at" as you know, and you don't say at with when.

いつ=when can be for time, day, month or year. Not specific.

何時 is for time only. Thus your answer is always ~ o'clock when asked.

何時=time + に = at time or time at.

「明日駅で会いましょう。」
「何時に会いましょうか？」 At what time, should we meet?

何時 can be used for asking what time it is. In this case, you don't say に.

「今何時ですか？」 or 「何時？」

By the way, we sometimes read 何時 (なんどき）. You see that usually in a written form. We also say いつ何時, meaning when & time. And we read "nandoki" instead of "nanji".

Example:

地震がいつ何時起こるかを予測するのは殆ど不可能である。

Elizabeth · 11 Oct 2005

studyonline said:
We do not say いつに. This に is "at" as you know, and you don't say at with when.

いつ=when can be for time, day, month or year. Not specific.

My apologies. I've seen "itsu ni naru" in song lyrics and such and assumed it was legitimate. I believe that was all Bucko was asking.

いつ and なんじ

The7thSamurai

Master of the Universe

Elizabeth

先輩

The7thSamurai

Master of the Universe

Buntaro

運動不足

nice gaijin

Resident Realist

Damicci

先輩

Elizabeth

先輩

studyonline

後輩

Elizabeth

先輩

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