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home/house?

dhmkhkk

後輩
25 Jun 2017
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I've been trying to understand when 家 is pronounced as いえ and when as うち. I thought that maybe the difference is house vs. home (like home sweet home, not the building itself) but from what I've seen so far they seem to be interchangeable.

今住んでいるいえ - this has to be that "house", right?
いえに帰る - I think it should be "home" here, not house. Since you return to your family, and not the building. Although I guess I've also heard うちに帰る... Please help!!
 
Your understanding is basically correct. いえ and うち can be considered to correspond to house and home, respectively. However, うち can be used also for "house", so 今住んでいるうち and うちに帰る are both valid. On the other hand, when うち means "my home/family" or "my/our", it can't be replaced with いえ. In these meanings, うち is written in hiragana, not kanji 家, though.
e.g.
うちは4人家族です。 (not 家は4人家族です。)
We are a family of four.

うちの会社 (not 家の会社)
my/our company

Thus, you can think うち has a broader meaning than いえ.
 
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