For the longest time I always thought these two words meant the same thing because from the media I've seen and in the context they were used, they seemed similar enough to be interchangeable. Is this not the case?
In a more gen-z sense, I always thought both words equated to "fr" or "for real". Is this not the case?
by elalexsantos
5 comments
My impression is that 本気 puts emphasis on a person’s sincerity or effort of whatever action is being described, while 本当 puts more emphasis on the veracity of what is being spoken about.
本気 means まじめな気持ち。真剣な気持ち。また、そのさま (Serious feeling. Earnest feeling. Also, such things.)
本当 means 偽りや見せかけでなく、実際にそうであること。また、そのさま。(Isn’t lie or false, something existing in reality. Also, such thing.)
When you ask 本当か, you say “Is it true?”; and when you ask 本気か, you say “Are you serious?”. They can be interchangeable in some situations, but they are not completely the same.
Not a native speaker, but my feeling is 本当 is more about the truth of the situation while 本気 is more about the seriousness of the speaker. I feel like ‘本当に言う’ means to speak the truth while ‘本気で言う’ is more like ‘seriously speaking’ and, yeah, it seems to be more like speaking ‘for real’.
I’ve also heard ガチ、マジ used the same as 本気 but they seem to be mostly used by young people.
正直 is another word that comes to mind as meaning ‘honestly’ I hear used in 正直に言う meaning something like ‘speaking frankly’.
This has been fun to think about. I noticed 本当 and 正直 are used with the particle に while 本気、マジ and ガチ are all used with で. I wonder if this amounts to に being more about the situation or fact while で is more about the speaker. Not sure about that though.
okay we have ほんき and ほんとう
how about しょうじき
Earnest vs real.