Quote (greydoom @ Sat, Aug 15 2009, 01:59am)
1) Difference between:
子 and 子供
both mean child, right?
They do, but "子" also serves as an attachment in otoko-no-ko and onna-no-ko to identify the child's gender (you can't use 子供 in this case). As far as the difference goes, "ko" is more laid back way to say it, while "kodomo" is more rigid and polite. Kodomo can also mean children.
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2) When a word is written with on-reading kanjis, does it almost everytime consist out of two kanjis
Yes, on-reading is almost always used in compound kanji verbs. Yet be careful some words like 子犬 (koinu - puppy) create an illusion of a compound kanji, but both are read with their kun-reading.
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and when a word is written with kun-reading kanjis, can a single word always be expressed with only 1 kanji + additional hiraganas?
For example:
University (uses on-reading kanjis): 大学
To learn (kun-reading kanji):学ぶ (manabu)
and also:
Friday (on reading): 金曜日
Gold, Money (kun reading): 金
Yup, just like you assessed, on-reading = typically a compound, while kun-reading = kanji+hiragana string
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3) Does most of the kanjis have both on-reading and kun-reading forms ?
Most do, however Kokuji or kanji-made-in-Japan obviously cannot have on-yomi because they never originated in China in the first place.
You can find a list here:
http://www.sljfaq.org/afaq/kokuji-list.htmlThis post was edited by skystrike on Aug 28 2009 06:02am