The Answer Decective needs you! If you know Japanese, help him!?

Question

29/10/2006 AD
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What I search for is "When to put Hiragana at the end of the word". I sometimes found words written only in Kanji without a Hiragana end like "Nihongo". After searching in words for some clues I found that ther no. of Hiragana Characters used to write a word is the same as the characters that word would contain with both Kanji and Kana. But after seeing more and more examples, I found it is not always like that. Then, today, I found that "Mara i" (Circle) ,written in Hiragana completely, have a dot written in the middle (Niether down nor up) between 'ra' and 'i'. The "i" was written after the Kanji. So, is the letters after that dot, the letters written after the Kanji to end the word?

Oh, it is "maru i", sorry!

Answer 1

The hiragana that follows a kanji (called "okurigana") comes after words in order to complete the word. (This happens mainly for verbs and adjectives. Nouns usually have a few kanji and can remain happy as such.)
In the case of marai (or I believe you mean "marui"), it is an i-adjective. Normally, it would be written in kanji because the kanji is very, very simple and basic (It's 円). The dot in between them is just showing that "i" is added on. (Like in dictionaries we separate words as such to show pronounciation.) In regular writing that dot would not be included and it would simply be written as 円い.
It being written in hiragana is just the writer's choice (and I assume is to help beginners learn) and wouldn't really appear in regular Japanese text.

Answer 2

a million. Yes two. Kanji Katakana Hiragana three. Hiragana ( whilst you first satrt finding out jap you begin with hiragana after which strengthen to the others and be taught while they're used ) four. The sounds are distinct and are used for distinct matters and distinct functions. Two are usually used in combination relying on what the cause of the article is. five. As some distance as i do know there is just one spoken language but when u journey by way of the distinct constituents u will listen that the dailect alterations and usually the sounds may also be shorter or much less expressed. But so far as i are aware of it is the equal language. Yes, there are 2 phrases for seven- Shichi and nana ( both one can be utilized ) I desire that this is helping u have an understanding of this just a little higher !

Answer 3

Why does Spookysickness keep getting thumbs down? She normally gives better answers than anyone else!! Maybe she has an enemy, following her around and giving her the thumbs down out of spite...?

Anyway, just to add two things. One, the other kanji for maru is 丸.
Two, the hiragana added to kanji could be likened to our words ending with 'ing' or 'ed'. Or even 'er'! KWIM? Like 'circle' / 'circling' / 'circled' / 'circler'! (I said they COULD be likened - I didn't claim they were the same!! But if you think of them like that, it might seem less alien to you.)

(I would never presume to explain the rules to anyone though - just when you think you understand it, something comes along that flies in the face of all you've learnt so far!!)

BTW, I noticed that you didn't use Japanese characters in your question ... maybe this site will help ...
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie6/downloads/recommended/ime/default.mspx