Okurigana

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Okurigana (送り仮名, literally "accompanying letters") are kana suffixes following kanji stems in Japanese written words. Generally used to inflect an adjective or verb, okurigana can indicate tense (past or present/future), affirmative/negative meaning, or grammatical politeness, among many other functions. In modern usage, okurigana are almost invariably written with hiragana; katakana were also commonly used in the past.

[edit] Inflection Examples

Adjectives in Japanese use okurigana to indicate tense and affirmation/negation, with all adjectives using the same pattern of suffixes for each case. A simple example uses the character "高" (high) to express the four basic cases of a Japanese adjective. The root meaning of the word is expressed via the kanji ("高", read taka and meaning "high" in each of these cases), but crucial information (negation and tense) can only be understood by reading the okurigana following the kanji stem.

高い (takai) 

High (positive, present/future), meaning "[It is] expensive" or "[It is] high"

高かった (takakatta) 

High (positive, past), meaning "[It was] expensive/high"

高くない (takakunai) 

High (negative, present/future), meaning "[It is not] expensive/high"

高くなかった (takakunakatta) 

High (negative, past), meaning "[It was not] expensive/high"

Japanese verbs follow a similar pattern; the root meaning is generally expressed by using one or more kanji at the start of the word, and then tense, negation, grammatical politeness, and other language features are expressed by following okurigana.

食べる (taberu) 

To eat (positive, present/future, direct politeness), meaning "[I/you/etc.] eat"

食べない (tabenai) 

To eat (negative, present/future, direct), meaning "[I/you/etc.] do not eat"

食べた (tabeta) 

To eat (positive, past, direct), meaning "[I/you/etc.] ate/have eaten"

食べなかった (tabenakatta) 

To eat (negative, past, direct), meaning "[I/you/etc.] did not eat/have not eaten"

Compare the direct polite verb forms to their distant forms, which follow a similar pattern, but whose meaning indicates more distance between the speaker and the listener:

食べます (tabemasu) 

To eat (positive, present/future, distant politeness), meaning "[My group/your group] eats"

食べません (tabemasen) 

To eat (negative, present/future, distant), meaning "[My group/your group] does not eat"

食べました (tabemashita) 

To eat (positive, past, distant), meaning "[My group/your group] ate/has eaten"

食べませんでした (tabemasen deshita) 

To eat (negative, past, distant), meaning "[My group/your group] did not eat/has not eaten"

[edit] Disambiguation of Kanji

Okurigana are also used to disambiguate kanji that have multiple readings. Since kanji, especially the most common ones, can be used for words with many (usually similar) meanings—but different pronunciations—key okurigana placed after the kanji help the reader to know which meaning and reading were intended.

Disambiguation examples include common verbs which use the characters "上" (up) and "下" (down):

上がる (agaru) 

"to ascend/to make ready/to complete", in which 上 is read "a"

上る (noboru) 

"to climb/to go up", in which 上 is read "nobo"

下さる (kudasaru) 

"to give [to the speaker as an inferior]", in which 下 is read "kuda"

下りる (oriru) 

"to get off/to descend", in which 下 is read "o"

下がる (sagaru) 

"to dangle", in which 下 is read "sa"

Another example includes a common verb with different meanings based on the okurigana:

話す (hanasu) 

"to speak/to talk". Example: ちゃんと話す方がいい。(chanto hanasu hou ga ii), meaning "It's better if you speak correctly."

話し (hanashi) 

noun form of the verb hanasu, "to speak". Example: 話し言葉と書き言葉 (hanashi kotoba to kaki kotoba), meaning "spoken words and written words".

話 (hanashi) 

noun, meaning "a story" or "a talk". Example: 話はいかが？ (hanashi wa ikaga?), meaning "How about a story?"

While the Japanese Ministry of Education prescribes rules on how to use okurigana, in practice there is much variation, particularly in older texts and online. As an example, the standard spelling of the word "kuregata" is 暮れ方, but it will sometimes be seen as 暮方.