O Help...Tengo una pregunta (I have some questions)

[Aujin]

Tengo unas pregutas:
1 What's the differece b/w "kurumo" and "jidousha?" Don't they both mean "car"?

2(which has NOTHING to do with 1;))`WUAI`while ur at it...plz correct me if i'm wrong.
Watashi to anata wa suguihashimasu. (You and I run a lot.)
Watashi ya anata wa suguihashimasu. (People like me and you run a lot.)

3(which has absolutely NOTHING to do with 1 or 2;))Whenever I use multiple adjectivals, what - exactly - do i change to ending to on -i adjectives.

Ex: Please give me the big, red book.
~~would that be "Ooki(**) akai hon o kudasi"?
Ya see, I don't know what the (**) would be...could anyone help?

Thanx, Arigatou gozaimasu, Vielen Dank, Gracias, Merci, Xie xie, Phongdai, or whatever you speak!

[richvh]

Aujin wrote:
Tengo unas pregutas:
1 What's the differece b/w "kurumo" and "jidousha?" Don't they both mean "car"?

That's "kuruma", not "kurumo". Roughly the difference between "car" and "automobile", in fact the first two kanji of "jidousha" mean "self moving", the same as "automobile".

2(which has NOTHING to do with 1;))WUAIwhile ur at it...plz correct me if i'm wrong.
Watashi to anata wa suguihashimasu. (You and I run a lot.)
Watashi ya anata wa suguihashimasu. (People like me and you run a lot.)

The first one: You and I run a lot (but no one else does.)
The second one: You and I run a lot (and so do other people.)

"To" joins a complete list of nouns. "Ya" joins a partial list of nouns. Using "ya" is like putting "etc." at the end of a list in English.

Edit: looks like you added something on when I wasn't watching.

3(which has absolutely NOTHING to do with 1 or 2)Whenever I use multiple adjectivals, what - exactly - do i change to ending to on -i adjectives.

Ex: Please give me the big, red book.
~~would that be "Ooki(**) akai hon o kudasi"?
Ya see, I don't know what the (**) would be...could anyone help?

Ookikute akai hon o kudasai.

[Kates]

I'm lost on "sugui" honestly. Do you mean "-sugi"? It's a suffix, not a prefix. But "-sugi" doesn't mean "a lot" it means "too much" or implies excessiveness. To say 'runs too much' you would say "hashisugi." You could maybe use "zuibun" or "hijyou ni" for 'a lot'... but I could be off.

Or AM I off for sure...? I've looked and didn't find any "sugui"... >_>

[richvh]

I didn't even look at the verb closely, just answered the question on "to" and "ya". The verb ought to be "hashirimasu", since hashiru is godan. How about:

Watashi to anata wa yoku hashirimasu. (You and I often run.)

[AJBryant]

Watashi to anata wa yoku hashirimasu. (You and I often run.)

Or, "You and I run well" -- wonderfully ambiguous word, yoku.

Context is king.

Tony

[Aujin]

Ok...:

Watashi to anata wa suguihashimasu. (You and I run a lot.)
Watashi ya anata wa suguihashimasu. (People like me and you run a lot.)

I should've said:
Watashi to anata wa hashisugi. (You and I run too much)
Watashi ya anata wa hashisugi. (People like you and me run too much)
Hmmm...wow:o, you guys are a BIG help!

Sou...because of this 'ya'-business does this mean that "Doitsugo ya eigo ya furansugo ya nippongo wa yasashii desu" means "German, English, French, Japanese, etc. are easy"? (...or something like that?)

Ich hab' noch eine Frage (I have another question)

4(which - you guessed it - has not a DARN thang to do w/ 1 or 2 or 3;)) When it comes to kanji, are there specific instances when one would use the KUN reading or the ON reading? In other words:
For example -- [North]
When should I use 'kita' and when should I use 'hoku'?
Do the uses 'kita/hoku' have anything to do with the part of speech as which they function?
[small](Not trying to be funny)Are my questions pretty clear?[/small]

:p:):p(again) THANK YOU! ARIGATOU GOZAIMASU! GRACIAS! MERCI! DANKE SCHÖN! KAMSA HAMNIDA! XIE XIE! PHONGDAI! DZAENKI-DZAENKI! or w/e you may speak!:p:):p:)

[richvh]

Edit: oops, wrong thread.

You learn the word, don't worry about the reading until you learn the word. Some words will use the onyomi, some the kunyomi. Most, but not all, words made entirely of kanji will use the onyumi. Most, but not all, words that have embedded or suffixed kana will use the kunyomi. On- and kunyomi help you guess how to read a new word when you already know the kanji, but it's best to look it up.