# ON and KUN



## まぞく

i have such question that i can't still understand: when we connect 2 kanji we read ON (kango) and KUN (wago) as I've understood when we connected 2 kanji we should read only ON or KUN of each kanji but not ON of one kanji and KUN of second kanji: 先生 - センセイ (sensei(kango)), 手紙 - てがみ (letter(wago)). But in such word as 日本語 - ひほんが (Japanese) it's looks like: kun on on.... Don't beat me very hurt if I said something stupid, but explain me that please.


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## s_a_n_t_i

It's not stupid. It's just that you didn't know.
日本語 is actually にほんご not ひほんが, and is all in ONyomi.

There are lots of words ON-KUN, and they are called 重箱読み(じゅうばこよみ), because JUU is the ON of 重, and BAKO or HAKO is the KUN of 箱.
A few examples... 団子（だんご）、番組（ばんぐみ）、本棚（ほんだな）、台所（だいどころ）、派手（はで）.
And the same at the inverse (KUN-ON), is called 湯桶読み（ゆとうよみ）, the same reason as 重箱読み but at the inverse.
Some examples... 合図（あいず）、野宿（のじゅく）、etc.

So remember, there are this type of combinations...
ON-ON　家事（かじ）
KUN-KUN　品物（しなもの）
ON-KUN　両手（りょうて）
KUN-ON　雨具（あまぐ）

Hope it helps. 
Best regards, 
Santi.


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## まぞく

Hmmm I realy didn't know that... but in some situations we read ひ like ni - 日本 and all this things makes big troubles for me. And how can I know when i should read on-on kun-kun on-kun kun-on...


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## s_a_n_t_i

Again, 日本 is にほん not ひほん. 
I think there's no rule for that, I'm not sure...
You will learn them as you study all kanji combinations, actually at times I misread some jukugo too...
Good Luck,
Santi.


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## Howaito

Greetings. 
I'd like to ask you about a thing that isn't really clear for me about the ON and KUN pronunciations of kanji. Please note that I'm quite on the beginning of this beautiful path, I've learnt only the two alphabets and about sixty pieces of kanji so far.

Would you, please, tell me how could I be able to decide which of the pronunciations of a kanji is the one that fits for the meaning of it?

Let us see an easy example:

*立* means 'to stand'
ON pronunciations for *立* are *ﾘﾂ* and *ﾘｭｳ*.
KUN pronunciation for *立* is *た(つ)*.

But which of the pronunciations refer to 'to stand'? Which is it? May it be that all of them means 'to stand'? If the answer is not, then how could I decide with a kanji like that in the future which is the correct reading for the meaning?

I might have misunderstood something about all this. If that's the case, sorry, and thank you for your kindness in advance.


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## jp_fr_linguaphile

There is no hard-and-fast rule for whether to use a kanji's on- or kun- reading.  Just as you had to learn to read English: tough vs though vs fought, you will have to learn readings individually.  You begin to see patterns as you advance in your studies, but even advanced learners as myself sometimes are unpleasantly surprised at the reading of a kanji combination.  

By the way, 日本 can be read　にほん or　にっぽん.  Sometimes kanji are read differently according to what their meanings are.  For example: 気質（きしつ）and　気質（かたぎ）.  There are better examples, but they don't come to mind, unfortunately.


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## Captain Haddock

Rule of thumb:

90% of the time, when two kanji are together in a compound, they use the _on_ reading, which comes from Chinese. These are known as Sino-Japanese words.

Conversely, 90% of the time when you see a single character followed by some hiragana, it uses the _kun_ reading, which came from Old Japanese. These are called _wago_ (Japanese words).

There are exceptions, special compounds, and kanji with more than two _on_ or _kun_ readings.  You'll just have to learn these as they come up.


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## Howaito

Thanks for your responses. Actually you answered a question that I hadn't ask though was really curious about. 
But I'm afraid my real question was not clear.

What I'd like to know - using the same example - is the following:
Do ﾘﾂ, ﾘｭｳ and た(つ) equally mean 'to stand', or it is only one of these three pronunciations which refers to 'to stand' and the other two pronunciations are for other purposes?


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## _forumuser_

Ciao Howaito-san! 

When the character appears on its own as in your example 立つ (tatsu) it means to stand up (or to rise, depending on context). When it is used in combination with another kanji, as, for example, in 私立 (shiritsu), it is read in its _on_ 音(phonetic = a la Chinese) reading _ritsu_. In compounds, disregard its meaning as a single character and just focus on the meaning of the compound. 私立 means private, as in, for instance, private university 私立大学 (_shiritsu daigaku_). Of course part of the meaning of a character may survive in the compound (you will notice in my example that the character 私 = "I, individual" suggests individuality and therefore private ownership), but sometimes it does not, so generally it is better to disregard the meaning of the single character when you look at compounds and think of their meaning as a whole. Let me know if I have not been sufficiently clear.


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## Howaito

Ciao e tante grazie per la risposta! 

Now it's absolutely clear, I've succeeded in understanding the whole thing from the combination of these three helpful posts. ^^ Thanks again for everyone.


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