Feel free to remove if this breaks rules.
I’m only a few days into learning, but I’m confused on a few small things.
If しろ(shiro) means “white,” why do I often see it as しろい (shiroi)? Is it just another way to say it? This also applies to other words with the same property.
Often times a word will include a う and other times it won’t, such as in どうも (with a u) and どもあいがと (without a u). Why is this?
Is there something I’m missing? Any help or insight is appreciated! Thank you!
Edit: Missed a sentence.
4 comments
しろ is the noun white, しろい is the adjective white, they have a similar base but they’re not the same word
you spelled どうもありがとう incorrectly, sometimes people leave out the last う but it looks like a typo as you’ve written it
are you following some kind of structured learning system? like the genki books or tae kim’s guide or something? noun and adjective colors really should be covered very early on
the starter’s guide on r/LearnJapanese has a lot of resources
しろ is a noun, しろい is an adjective. This is one of a class of adjectives known as い-adjectives.
どもありがと is incorrect. It is written どうもありがとう. The う elongates the “o” sound of the respective kana, and is necessary for correct pronunciation. If you’re seeing it without う, you’re seeing it spelled incorrectly. Using Romaji (Japanese using Latin letters) “thank you very much” should technically be written either with “u” (doumo arigatou) or with macrons (dōmo arigatō) to reflect this lengthening.
you’re only a few days in and you can already read and recognise that stuff? something like that took me months and even still I had to think about it.
Learn grammar and you will easily understand しろ is a noun and しろい is an adjective.