I was just doing the study thing when this question came up. The first time I came across it I pronounced it as 何時 but the correct answer turned out to be 何時. Then in another situation I though it was 何時 and it turned out to be 何時. What is the difference? Really...

Please discuss.

いつ and なんじ ?
I guess when you ask a question with なんじ　you expect an hour as an answer.
いつ is more general.

いつ is almost never written as 何時 as far as I know

Just wait for 何時（なんどき）to come up
Also 何時何時 (いつなんどき）vs 何時何時（いついつ）

Jukugo very often have alternate readings that are less common but have the same meaning.
明日 = あした、あす、みょうにち
明後日 = あさって、みょうごにち
etc

Ok, putting aside the fact that you're a bit confusing there, I've never seen it read as anything but なんじ. And even if it was read differently, I would recommend you learn the difference by seeing it in context in a lot of books with furigana.

alyks Wrote:Ok, putting aside the fact that you're a bit confusing there, I've never seen it read as anything but なんじ. And even if it was read differently, I would recommend you learn the difference by seeing it in context in a lot of books with furigana.

That was my intention.

I had first ever recognized it as 何時 (いつ). I've been shadowing the living hell out Breaking into Japanese Literature. I have actually come across 何時(なんとき). I hadn't seen it enough to have included it in my topic of mass confusion, though.

It seems there are times where either is appropriate and times where one or the other will do.

In general, 何時 asks for an hour in the day you're talking about. いつ is general and can be any date and time.

Sooo...basically..it's the same sign but you write(hiragana i mean)-pronounce it differently?
Aside from that...b..but when you say なんじ wouldn't you think something like "what's that?" i may be too green for this stuff though >_>

Cristina Wrote:Sooo...basically..it's the same sign but you write(hiragana i mean)-pronounce it differently?
Aside from that...b..but when you say なんじ wouldn't you think something like "what's that?" i may be too green for this stuff though >_>

No, you're mixing up なに and なんじ. nani means what, nanji means what time/hour.

Yes, both nanji and itsu can be written 何時 but it's VERY uncommon to find itsu written like that, so it's not a problem.

Just so that people are aware, it's actually possible to assign ANY reading to any Kanji.

I have seen English 外来語 as furigana on top of Kanji. I have seen furigana of words that mean the same as the Kanji, but are totally unrelated in reading. For example, you may see the Kanji 果物, but instead of くだもの, it says フルーツ as the furigana. This kind of usage sometimes appears in advertisements, because it seems to be more fashionable to use words this way.

The only rule appears to be "explain the reading as furigana" to the reader, if it hasn't been seen before, or is not popularly known. The first time I saw this in a magazine or manga, I was shocked, but over time, have grown used to this.

BTW, most Japanese don't have a second thought towards using Kanji in this way.

Very true, most "trendy" new mangas do this from time to time. It's very common in Bleach for example. While it's obvious Hollow is an English word and should be written in katakana, it's written with kanji and furigana.

Hellsing does this a lot, too. For example, "バンパイア" is 吸血鬼.