change of sound when making a phrase

[deathelysium]

i dunno how to describe the problem here...

it's like when

恋(koi) + 人(hito) = 恋人(koibito)

and many other more, the second word have to change sound a bit...

So is there any set rules for this?

Sorry very tired now, my english a bit off...

[Harisenbon]

Yes. usually you just add the tenten mark ``, although there are some exceptions.

こい　びと
かろう　ぶそく

[deathelysium]

some words they just stick together without changing the sound

how am i supposed to know when should the second character change?

[Justin]

That's the problem, you just don't ever really know for sure, after you get going you'll get a feel for how things should sound, and you'll know what's right and wrong, well, at least to a certain extent. Until then though, you pretty much just have to memorize the ones that are outside the norm, not much else you can really do.

[deathelysium]

k thanks a lot, just wanted to know if there's any grammatical rule for that to help me ^.^

[zengargoyle]

see also: Wikipedia entry for Rendaku.