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I'm trying to say, "I arrived at the station this morning."

今朝駅に着きました。

As I understand, 今朝 can be read as けさ or こんちょう. Which is the correct reading in this case?

BJ Dela Cruz
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  • Possibly Related: http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/271/why-is-%E6%98%A8%E5%A4%9C-pronounced-as-%E3%82%86%E3%81%86%E3%81%B9-yuube-and-%E4%BB%8A%E6%97%A5-as-%E3%81%8D%E3%82%87%E3%81%86-kyou – The Wandering Coder Jan 07 '16 at 00:21

1 Answers1

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In casual conversation such as this, けさ is by far the more common reading. Although I can't seem to find any definitive references that state this aside from personal experience, here are some links that provide both readings.

http://jisho.org/search/%E4%BB%8A%E6%9C%9D
Provides the common reading けさ with the other form こんちょう.

http://www.engyes.com/en/dic-content/%E4%BB%8A%E6%9C%9D
Provides a brief Chinese meaning and the etymology of both けさ and こんちょう.

https://kotobank.jp/word/%E4%BB%8A%E6%9C%9D-489849
References both the Digital Daijisen, and the Daijirin Third Edition which shows both the same meanings for both readings and the alternate reading in each entry.

The Wandering Coder
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  • I noticed that some smaller dictionaries (明鏡国語辞典 and 岩波国語辞典) don't even have entries for [今朝]{こんちょう}, and in one medium-sized dictionary (集英社国語辞典), it's marked as 文章語. (And my computer's input method won't even convert こんちょう to 今朝!) –  Jan 07 '16 at 00:52
  • Just one of the idiosyncracies of the language. We say こんや、こんばん、こんかい, etc. all the time even in the most casual settings, but we (almost) never say こんちょう. –  Jan 07 '16 at 01:12
  • @snailboat Yeah I saw a few smaller dictionaries with only けさ listed so I didn't really think they would make a good comparison. My computer (Win 7) converts it but there are no alternative Kanji offered. – The Wandering Coder Jan 07 '16 at 01:25
  • @職場恋愛小説執筆中 There are a few times where I have come up against similar situations. Almost all other times a particular Kanji is used in a compound it is said one way and then for the one or two special cases it is said the other way without any sufficient explanation as to why besides, "because it is". – The Wandering Coder Jan 07 '16 at 01:28