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For the most part, I understand the difference between on’yomi and kun-yomi, but I’m really confused about something.
When do we use the on’yomi reading as opposed to using the kun-yomi reading.
What is the difference between the reading in the vocab?
And most importantly, what purpose does the the “reading” and “knowing the reading” serve?
Please help!
Arigato!
SakuraKompoza
The official rule is that if there is JUKUGO, or compound-kanji (at least 2 kanji NEXT to each other), both kanji use the ON’YOMI.
You use the KUN’YOMI when the kanji is BY ITSELF. You also use the KUN’YOMI when hiragana FOLLOWS the kanji to generate the meaning of the word.
HOWEVER, EXCEPTIONS are ALL OVER THE PLACE. A kanji by itself may favor the on’yomi, and two kanji in jukugo may favor the kun’yomi. A jukugo may even have on’yomi for one kanji and kun’yomi for the other!
I usually try to just know the actually word in the first place, and then understand how the reading of the kanji works. I’d say that despite these rules, at least 45% of all words have these reading exceptions.Credit: Tsetycoon13 (TextFugu forum member)
Thanks Tom!!!!
Got really frustrated with this part, decided to check the forums, so glad this was answered! Much easier to understand now, thanks!!
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