# 二人



## viajero_canjeado

Hello!

I was just reading a children's story and came across the word 二人。 I looked up the pronunciation and found two, and both with the same definition: ににん and ふたり。 Is there any difference between the two? Which is more appropriate for use in regular conversation?

Thanks!


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## mikun

Hi,
We had pronounced 'futari' in the past.  Radio and TV announcer also had pronounced as 'futari'.  The correct answer of '漢字読み' test was 'futari', 'nininn' was incorrect.
This situation has changed about 30 years ago. Young peoples have started to pronounce this word as 'nininn' insted of 'futari' and Radio & TV peoples have followed this trend.
Though senior people will prefer 'futari', 'nininn' may be more appropriate and accepted pronounciation in Japan now.


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## Schokolade

> Though senior people will prefer 'futari', 'nininn' may be more appropriate and accepted pronounciation in Japan now.


Huh? "Ni-nin" in a regular conversation?? You're saying the reading of "Ni-nin" for "２人", "two people", in a children's book can be accepted? So you mean you'd read "お爺さんとおばあさんは二人仲良く暮らしていました" as "O-jii-san to o-baa-san wa, ni-nin naka-yoku kurashi-te i-mashi-ta." ?

OP, maybe you could give us the context or the sentence where the word is used.


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## Schokolade

Probably these pages will be of some help:

http://www.faqoverflow.com/japanese/2833.html

http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/2833/when-to-read-一人-and-二人-as-いちにん-and-ににん


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## viajero_canjeado

Schokolade said:


> Huh? "Ni-nin" in a regular conversation?? You're saying the reading of "Ni-nin" for "２人", "two people", in a children's book can be accepted? So you mean you'd read "お爺さんとおばあさんは二人仲良く暮らしていました" as "O-jii-san to o-baa-san wa, ni-nin naka-yoku kurashi-te i-mashi-ta." ?
> 
> OP, maybe you could give us the context or the sentence where the word is used.



The story may be found at the following web address: http://hukumusume.com/douwa/betu/jap/05/01.htm and the word 二人 is in the second sentence: 二人は子どもがいなかったので、シロというイヌをとてもかわいがっていました。


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## Schokolade

It should definitely be read as ふたり and no other way than that here, _regardless of your age._


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## viajero_canjeado

Schokolade said:


> It should definitely be read as ふたり and no other way than that here, _regardless of your age._



Thanks Schokolade. Is it pronounced ふたり for semantic reasons, or is it just a matter of habit?


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## p_loon

ふたり means two people.
ににん means second person(grammatical usage).


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## Schokolade

p_loon said:


> ふたり means two people.
> ににん means second person(grammatical usage).


Ha, you haven't heard of the phrase 二人組[ににんぐみ]?



> Is it pronounced ふたり for semantic reasons, or is it just a matter of habit?


I don't know if you'd call this a semantic reason but I think we have rough rules like;

When you count people you read it as ふたり, 'two people.' Just when you count more than ten people you read it as にじゅうににん(22 people), さんじゅうににん(32 people) and so forth. 
二人分(=for two people/two servings) and 二人ずつ(=two by two) are read as ふたりぶん, ふたりずつ, not ににんぶん, ににんずつ.

The only examples I can think of where ににん is used are such set phrases as:
二人前[ににんまえ](two servings/a serving for 2 people), 二人称[ににんしょう]('the second person' as a grammatical term), 二人三脚[ににんさんきゃく](a three-legged race), 二人羽織[ににんばおり](Two-for-one; two people perform on stage, acting as one; one person plays the arms and the other plays the head.), 二人組[ににんぐみ] (two men, often used to refer to robbers/muggers).

I think 二人前 and 二人組 can also be pronounced ふたりまえ and ふたりぐみ, though my dictionary doesn't give these pronunciations. Maybe these are colloquial or slang readings.

As for 二人掛け(a double seat), my dictionary only gives the reading of ふたりがけ, but I think ににんがけ would also be fine.

Gee, how confusing. Can anybody see consistency here?


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## p_loon

sorry, ににん does not only mean second person.



Schokolade said:


> I think 二人前 and 二人組 can also be pronounced ふたりまえ and ふたりぐみ, though my dictionary doesn't give these pronunciations. Maybe these are colloquial or slang readings.



二人前＝ふたりまえ and ににんまえ are both fine.
二人組 is often pronounced ふたりぐみ, while ににんぐみ is rarely heard in everyday conversation.



Schokolade said:


> As for 二人掛け(a double seat), my dictionary only gives the reading of ふたりがけ, but I think ににんがけ would also be fine.



ににんがけ sounds odd to me. Only ふたりがけ is acceptable.

Except a few combinations, such as 二人三脚 or 二人羽織, we pronounce ふたり in everyday use.
ににん・・・ is used in formal situation.

I think when ににん is acceptable いちにん for 一人 is also acceptable, like いちにんまえ.
いちにんがけ is not acceptable, so ににんがけ is not neither.


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