Writing Kanji Words In Hiragana
Writing Kanji Words In Hiragana
In Japanese, words can often be written in either kanji or hiragana form. Sometimes the choice seems almost random, but there are a lot of reasons why a word may be written one way or the other.
中村さんが今日学校にくると言われた。
[来る]
I was told that Nakamura-san would come to school today.
ママが今日もおいしいご飯を作ってくれた。
[美味しい]
Mom made delicious food again today (for me).
結構高かったけど、昨日あのかわいい服を買った。
[可愛い]
It was pretty expensive, but I bought that cute outfit yesterday.
Here are some reasons as to why hiragana may be used instead of the kanji:
The kanji the word uses is rare.
Writing a word in kanji or hiragana may convey different nuances.
Depending on the target audience, one may be chosen over the other.
A stylistic choice to convey a certain feeling.
Auxiliary verbs are mostly written in hiragana.
A more in-depth explanation for each point is found below.
1
The first reason is simply that the kanji that would be used is rare and might be unknown to the reader. This can often be seen in newspapers, as they stick to 常用漢字 regular-use kanji in their articles. If a word uses a kanji that is not on this list, it is written in hiragana instead.
Special Note
The 常用漢字 regular-use kanji is a list of 2,136 kanji characters and their readings, officially announced by the Japanese Ministry of Education. It serves as a literacy baseline for those who have completed compulsory education and as a list of permitted characters and readings for official government documents.
2
Using kanji versus hiragana can also sometimes convey different nuances. The word ところ for example, which is used in some grammar constructions, can also be written as 所. However when 所 is used it is referring to a physical place, while when ところ is used it is referring to a metaphorical place.
3
The use of kanji and hiragana can also vary depending on the context and audience. For example, a children's book may use more hiragana and fewer kanji to make it easier for young readers to understand, while a formal document may use more kanji to give it a more formal tone.
4
It can also be a stylistic choice. In some mangas, for example, the speech of young children is written mostly or entirely in hiragana to convey the feeling that they are young. This probably stems from the fact that young children don’t know kanji yet.
Hiragana also has a less formal and less stiff feeling compared to kanji. Correspondingly, it may be used in place of kanji to bring about a more casual tone. For example, writing a personal message or social media post may come across as more friendly and approachable when in hiragana as opposed to the more serious and formal kanji.
5
Auxiliary verbs, also known as helping verbs, are verbs that are used together with other verbs to indicate the tense, mood, or voice of the main verb. In Japanese, auxiliary verbs are typically written in hiragana, rather than kanji. For example, in most cases 過ぎる attached to the main verb 食べる will be written like this 食べすぎる, and not like this: 食べ過ぎる.