23746
Things like 何度も and 何回も are somehow common. In what cases would there be
differences between the two? Are they the same differences between the plain 回
and 度? Thanks.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-04-11T02:24:59.413
23718
2019-06-08T17:55:41.113
2015-04-11T03:48:03.987
9822
question
word-choice counters
Differences between "何度も or 何度でも" and 何回も?
While there exists a large amount of interchangeability between 「[回]{かい}」 and
「[度]{ど}」, it is also true that in certain situations, only using one of the
two is either "correct" or "preferred" over the other.

> **_Interchangeable:_**

**_General frequency_** : "X has happened Y times.", "Person X has done
something Y times.", etc.

「この[冬]{ふゆ}、４回/度[雪]{ゆき}が[降]{ふ}った。」= "It snowed 4 times this winter."

「その[映画]{えいが}は2回/度[観]{み}ました。」= "I have seen the film twice."

> **_Not Interchangeable:_**

1) **_Ordinal numbers_**.

「[第]{だい}16 **回** XYZ[大学日本語弁論大会]{だいがくにほんごべんろんたいかい}」= "The 16th Annual XYZ
University Japanese Speech Contest". Using 「度」 here is incorrect.

2) **_Proverbs and sayings_**.

「二 **度** あることは三 **度** ある。」= "What happens twice will happen thrice." Using 「回」
here would be extremely weird.

「三 **度** [目]{め}の[正直]{しょうじき}」= "Third time lucky." 「回」 cannot be used.

3) **_Decimals_**.

「アメリカ[人]{じん}は[週平均]{しゅうへいきん}8.6 **回** ハンバーガーを[食]{た}べる。」= "On average, Americans
eat a hamburger 8.6 times a week." 「度」 should not be used with a decimal.

4) **_Larger numbers_**.

This is a strong tendency and certainly not a written rule, but we do not use
「度」 much when the number is "large". We would **_not_** say 「140度」 or 「3800度」.
We would use 「回」 for numbers that large.

(If you used 「140度」 or 「3800度」 out of context, native speakers would think,
without a fail, that you were talking about a temperature of something and not
a frequency -- "140 degrees Celcius", etc.)

There could be more cases where the two words are not interchangeable, but I
will leave it to the experts here.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2015-04-12T19:48:01.203
23746
2019-06-08T17:55:41.113
2019-06-08T17:55:41.113
23718
answer