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Can the honorific o be used in front of all nouns? I was thinking of sentence
structures and wondering if o could be placed in front of all nouns. Thank
you.
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2017-07-05T17:55:21.970
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2019-02-28T07:45:24.407
2019-02-28T07:45:24.407
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question
honorifics prefixes bikago
Can the honorific o be used in front of all nouns?
No. It really depends upon the word. There are some words which typically
don't use the honorific 'o' , but can use it. Others would sound strange or be
plain wrong. Good luck.
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2017-07-05T18:49:36.600
49076
2017-07-05T18:49:36.600
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answer
The Ministry of Education's guidance is (or used to be) that honorific
prefixes should only be used where their usage was well-established by custom,
and that as a rule お should be used before Japanese words and ご(御) before
"kango" (Chinese or Chinese-style words). Thus, おさけ and おはし(お箸) but ご主人 and
ご本人. Honorific prefixes shouldn't be used before 外来語 (non-Chinese foreign
imports). I seem to remember that they particularly disapproved of おビール and
おコーヒー. But you will hear this rule disregarded ten times (well, maybe twice) a
day. The best advice is :listen to the usage of native-speakers whose Japanese
you are happy to take as a model and follow their example.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-05T19:50:56.950
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2017-07-05T20:56:57.193
2017-07-05T20:56:57.193
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answer