Okurigana: Where to Split Kanji and Kana (้ฃในใ, Not ้ฃใ)
Why is it ้ฃในใ and not ้ฃใ? Those trailing kana are okurigana (้ใไปฎๅ), and putting them in the wrong place is one of the most common writing mistakes learners make. There is a simple idea behind where they go.
What Okurigana Is
Okurigana are the hiragana written after a kanji to complete a word. They mostly appear on verbs and adjectives, where part of the word changes when it conjugates.
The kanji carries the core meaning; the okurigana carries the part that changes.
The Core Rule: Okurigana = the Changing Part
Write the kanji for the unchanging stem, and kana for the part that conjugates. ๅใ โ ๅใ(ใชใ), ๅใ(ใพใ): the ใ is okurigana because that's where the word changes.
okurigana ในใ shows the conjugating part
ใ changes: ๅใใชใ, ๅใใพใ
i-adjective tail ใใ
ใใ is okurigana
Accepted Variations
Some words have more than one officially accepted okurigana spelling. Both are correct; the shorter form is more common in modern writing.
Where This Shows Up on the JLPT
Okurigana rarely gets its own question, but it quietly decides your answer in kanji-reading and kanji-writing questions. If you have internalized a verb with the wrong okurigana, for example expecting ้ฃใ instead of ้ฃในใ, you will hesitate or misread it the moment it appears in a passage, even though you know the word perfectly well in speech.
It also matters for handwriting-style writing questions, where you convert a hiragana word into kanji. Writing ้ฃใ instead of ้ฃในใ is marked wrong even though the kanji itself is correct, because the okurigana is part of the required answer, not an optional extra.
How to Get It Right
- Ask โwhat part changes?โ That part is kana.
- Learn the verb/adjective with its okurigana from the start: ้ฃในใ, not ้ฃ + ในใ as separate pieces.
- When typing, the IME inserts okurigana for you. Type ใในใ and pick ้ฃในใ.
Teacher's Note
The single most common okurigana error I see is dropping a needed kana (้ฃใ for ้ฃในใ). When in doubt, include the conjugating syllable. Reading a lot of real Japanese trains your eye for the correct boundary faster than any rule chart.
Write it the way natives do
Nihongo Pass shows every verb and adjective with correct okurigana and conjugations, designed by a JLPT N1 teacher.