Okurigana

are kana

Kana

Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the roman alphabet known as rōmaji. There are three kana scripts: modern cursive hiragana , modern angular katakana , and the old syllabic use of kanji known as man’yōgana that was...

suffixes following kanji

Kanji

are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet . The Japanese term kanji literally means "Han characters".- History :Chinese characters first came to Japan on...

stems in Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family. There are a number of proposed relationships with other languages, but none have gained general acceptance...

 written words. Generally used to inflect an adjective or verb, okurigana can indicate aspect (perfective versus imperfective), affirmative or negative meaning, or grammatical politeness, among many other functions. In modern usage, okurigana are almost invariably written with hiragana

Hiragana

is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...

; katakana

Katakana

is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet. The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji....

were also commonly used in the past.

Adjective

Adjective

In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun, giving more information about the noun or pronoun's referent...

s in Japanese use okurigana to indicate aspect

Grammatical aspect

In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb defines the temporal flow in the described event or state...

 and affirmation-negation, with all adjectives using the same pattern of suffixes for each case.

are kana

Kana

Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the roman alphabet known as rōmaji. There are three kana scripts: modern cursive hiragana , modern angular katakana , and the old syllabic use of kanji known as man’yōgana that was...

suffixes following kanji

Kanji

are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet . The Japanese term kanji literally means "Han characters".- History :Chinese characters first came to Japan on...

stems in Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family. There are a number of proposed relationships with other languages, but none have gained general acceptance...

 written words. Generally used to inflect an adjective or verb, okurigana can indicate aspect (perfective versus imperfective), affirmative or negative meaning, or grammatical politeness, among many other functions. In modern usage, okurigana are almost invariably written with hiragana

Hiragana

is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...

; katakana

Katakana

is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet. The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji....

were also commonly used in the past.

Inflection examples

Adjective

Adjective

In grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a noun or pronoun, giving more information about the noun or pronoun's referent...

s in Japanese use okurigana to indicate aspect

Grammatical aspect

In linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a verb defines the temporal flow in the described event or state...

 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 (aspect and negation) can only be understood by reading the okurigana following the kanji stem.

高い (takai) : High (positive, imperfective), meaning "[It is] expensive" or "[It is] high"
高くない (takakunai) : High (negative, imperfective), meaning "[It is not] expensive/high"
高かった (takakatta) : High (positive, perfective), meaning "[It was] expensive/high"
高くなかった (takakunakatta) : High (negative, perfective), meaning "[It was not] expensive/high"

Japanese verbs

Verb

kalleah hit meIn syntax, a verb is a word that usually denotes an action , an occurrence , or a state of being . Depending on the language, a verb may vary in form according to many factors, possibly including its tense, aspect, mood and voice...

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

食べる (taberu) : Eat (positive, imperfective, direct politeness), meaning "[I/you/etc.] eat"
食べない (tabenai) : Eat (negative, imperfective, direct), meaning "[I/you/etc.] do not eat"
食べた (tabeta) : Eat (positive, perfective, direct), meaning "[I/you/etc.] ate/have eaten"
食べなかった (tabenakatta) : Eat (negative, perfective, 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) : Eat (positive, imperfective, distant politeness), meaning "[My group/your group] eats"
食べません (tabemasen) : Eat (negative, imperfective, distant), meaning "[My group/your group] does not eat"
食べました (tabemashita) : Eat (positive, perfective, distant), meaning "[My group/your group] ate/has eaten"
食べませんでした (tabemasen deshita) : Eat (negative, perfective, distant), meaning "[My group/your group] did not eat/has not eaten"

Verbs

The okurigana for group I verbs (五段動詞 godan dōshi, also known as u-verbs) usually begin with the final mora

Mora (linguistics)

Mora is a unit of sound used in phonology that determines syllable weight in some languages. Like many technical linguistics terms, the exact definition of mora varies. Perhaps the most succinct working definition was provided by the American linguist James D...

 of the dictionary form of the verb.
飲む no-mu to drink, 頂く itada-ku to receive, 養う yashina-u to cultivate, 練る ne-ru to twist.

For group II verbs (一段動詞 ichidan dōshi, also known as ru-verbs) the okurigana begin at the mora preceding the last, unless the word is only two morae long.
妨げる samata-geru to prevent, 食べる ta-beru to eat, 占める shi-meru to comprise, 寝る ne-ru to sleep, 着る ki-ru to wear

If the verb has different variations, such as transitive

Transitive verb

In syntax, a transitive verb is a verb that requires both a direct subject and one or more objects.-Examples:Some examples of sentences with transitive verbs:*Harry sees Adam....

 and intransitive

Intransitive verb

----In grammar, an intransitive verb does not take an object. In more technical terms, an intransitive verb has only one argument , and hence has a valency of one. For example, in English, the verbs sleep and die, are intransitive...

 forms, then the shortest reading of the kanji is used for all related words.
閉める shi-meru to close (transitive), 閉まる shi-maru to close (intransitive), 落ちる o-chiru to fall, 落とす o-tosu to drop

Distinctions are also made to differentiate between readings.
脅かす obiya-kasu to threaten (mentally), 脅す odo-su to threaten (physically)

Adjectives

Most adjectives ending in -i (true adjectives) have okurigana starting from the -i.
安い yasu-i, 高い　taka-i, 赤い aka-i

Okurigana starts from shi for adjectives ending in -shii.
楽しい tano-shii, 著しい ichijiru-shii, 貧しい mazu-shii

Exceptions occur when the adjective also has a verbal form. In this case, as above, the reading of the character is kept constant.
暖める atata-meru (verb), 暖かい atata-kai (adjective), 頼む tano-mu, 頼もしい tano-moshii

As with verbs, okurigana is used to distinguish between readings.
細い hoso-i, 細かい koma-kai, 大いに　oo-ini, 大きい oo-kii

Na-adjectives (adjectival verbs) that end in -ka have okurigana from the ka.
静か shizu-ka, 豊か yuta-ka, 愚か oro-ka

Adverbs

The last mora of an adverb is usually written as okurigana.
既に sude-ni, 必ず kanara-zu, 少し suko-shi

Nouns

Nouns do not normally have okurigana.
月 tsuki, 魚 sakana, 米 kome.

However, if the noun is derived from a verb or adjective, it may take the same okurigana, although some may be omitted in certain cases.
当たり a-tari, 怒り ika-ri, 釣り tsu-ri

For some nouns it is obligatory to omit the okurigana, despite having a verbal origin.
話 hanashi, 氷 koori, 畳 tatami

The noun form of the corresponding verb does take okurigana.

話し hana-shi is the nominal form of the verb 話す hana-su, and not the noun 話 hanashi.

Some nouns have okurigana by convention.
兆し kiza-shi, 幸い saiwa-i, 勢い ikio-i

Compounds

Okurigana may be omitted if there is no ambiguity in meaning or reading.
受け付け u-ke tsu-ke, 受付 uke tsuke, 行き先 i-ki saki, 行先 iki saki

Exceptions

There are however exceptions to these rules that must be learnt: okurigana that has become standard by convention rather than logic.
明るい aka-rui, 恥ずかしい ha-zukashii

Disambiguation of kanji

Okurigana are also used to disambiguate kanji

Kanji

are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet . The Japanese term kanji literally means "Han characters".- History :Chinese characters first came to Japan on...

 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 go up/to climb (a set of stairs)", 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

Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Japan)

The , also known as MEXT or Monkashō, is one of the ministries of the Japanese government.The Meiji government created the first Ministry of Education in 1871....

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.