Basic Kanji 3 — School, Daily Life, Actions

What You Will Learn in This Unit

In this unit, you will learn the on'yomi and kun'yomi readings of 32 kanji that represent school, daily life, actions, and time. You will confirm that a single kanji can have both on'yomi and kun'yomi readings, and how the reading of a two-character word is determined. All example sentences are presented as individual words.

Kanji for School and People

The on'yomi of a kanji is a reading derived from Chinese pronunciation, and the kun'yomi is a reading matched to the native Japanese meaning of the word. Words of two or more characters are usually read with their on'yomi strung together, so 学生 is read as がくせい. However, 学校 becomes がっこう when the ガク of 学 and the コウ of 校 combine, and at this point the ク of ガク changes into the sokuon っ, which alters the sound. When a single kanji is written alone to express a meaning, as in 名前, the kun'yomi is used, so 名 is read as な.

Kanji for Places and Daily Life

Kanji representing places or objects are often read with on'yomi in two-character words. When both kanji are on'yomi, as in 会社, they are read together as かいしゃ. Even when only the second kanji is on'yomi, as in 電車, they are read together as でんしゃ. 店 and 車 are read as みせ and くるま, respectively, when used alone.

Kanji for Actions

Kanji expressing the meaning of verbs are often read with kun'yomi. In most cases, a single verb such as 行く, 来る, or 見る is determined by one kun'yomi reading. The 読 in 読書 is read ドク and 書 is read ショ, which are read together to form どくしょ. In on'yomi words such as 来週, 来 is read as ライ.