Japanese language doubt

5 comments

1. You don’t

   Many verbs conjugate to the same forms

   If the root word is written in kanji then this often clarifies, but even in this case there are homoglyphs out there like 行った=いった=おこなった

2. You memorize the word in it’s plain form (もつ、おちる), and learn to recognize its conjugations from there.

3. You just don’t but you know from context. Much like in english how there are homonyms

4. The answer is kanji! Japanese has more homophones than any other language iirc, which is why Japanese speakers have a culture of adding subtitles to their videos and broadcasts.

   Also, is もる a verb? Never heard of it.

5. Firstly, they are written with different kanji, which is why knowing them is very important. Secondly, many homophones have different pronunciations with pitch accent, which is why knowing the pitch of a word is very important.

   These make it easy to differentiate, though of course some will still be the same if they are only written in hiragana in a given text or in general and if they have the same pitch.