eroichigo
Member
Registered: 2009-03-07
Posts: 20
方 gives me a ton of trouble when trying to read. Is there any common patterns or ways to tell if 方 is read ほう or かた？
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks
alantin
Member
From: Finland
Registered: 2007-05-02
Posts: 346
①
あの方 （かた） (That person)
②
読み方 （かた）
作り方 （かた）
観方 （み・がた）
③
フランス語と日本語を比べると、どちらの方が難しいですか。 （ほう）
④
方法 （ほう・ほう）
The first three examples have got to be the most common usages of that kanji and now that I think about it, it seems to me that most of the time it's read "ほう", except when it means a person or it's something like 食べ方, 読み方, 作り方 or the like.
Edit.
Smackle put it in a nut shell pretty good!
Last edited by alantin (2009 July 28, 4:39 pm)
magamo
Member
From: Pasadena, CA
Registered: 2009-05-29
Posts: 1012
As others said, I also think you use かた when it has a sense of "human" or "method," and probably it's ほう when 方 related to "direction," "side," etc.
For example, これを食べる方が健康に良いでしょう (It would be better to eat this for your health) is たべる"ほう", but これを食べる方はいますか？ (Anyone eat this?) is たべる"かた".
There are some exceptions such as archaic expressions, (e.g., 朝日が昇る東の方を見やる), but it seems to me that this rule works most of the time.
Also, 方 can mean "about" or "approximately," and in this case it's かた/がた. For instance, 七割方正解した。is ななわりがたせいかいした, which means "I got about 70% of questions right." Another example is 明け方 (あけがた), which literally means "the time when the sun is about to rise" i.e., "daybreak."
Last edited by magamo (2009 July 28, 4:45 pm)