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I'm trying to understand when I should leave blanks (spaces) between Japanese
words when using either kana or kanji.

My understanding is that blanks should be left when otherwise the text is
confusing. This means that you can avoid blanks when you have a kanji followed
by a particle, like in this sentence:

> 何時までですか。

which means "Until when is it open?" (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

Above we can see that there is no space between 何時 and まで, because the former
is kanji so it's 'clear' that まで acts as a particle.

However, what happens with the last ですか? It seems to me that までですか could be
confusing, so I wonder if 何時まで ですか would be better.

**Questions:**

  * Are there any formal rules that can be followed with regards to this question?

  * In any case, is it a big deal if you leave 'too many' spaces in a text? In other words, if you are not sure, is it better to leave a blank or to avoid it?
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2021-07-09T10:45:38.780
87410
2021-07-09T14:39:47.410
2021-07-09T14:36:02.883
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question
grammar kanji particles orthography hiragana
Rules to leave spaces between words when using kanji and kana
Afaik, we don't use spaces in any sentence, except at the beginning of a
paragraph (However, this use is only seen in novels, textbooks, news articles,
and newspapers).

Instead, we use punctuation marks (句読点 | I know the English language has them
too). I don't think 何時までですか would use 句読点, though.

As for the comment of yours, it's very likely that such spaces are left to
make it easier for children and Japanese learners to understand.
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2021-07-09T11:01:40.200
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answer