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This question is to confirm that the two verbs (to buy and to have) are homophones.

わたしはねこをかっています。

Could the above sentence be translated to "I have a cat" as well as "I am buying a cat"? Are there other ways to phrase the above sentence that are more specific to "buying" vs "having"?

Chocolate
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funseiki
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    Be aware that [飼]{か}う isn't 'have' in general, it's specifically 'have as a pet; take care of'. – Sjiveru Nov 28 '17 at 23:29
  • @Sjiveru Ah okay, then would it also be used to refer to children? As in "わたしわむすこさんをかっています" (I have/take care of a son). – funseiki Nov 28 '17 at 23:37
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    Related: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/53487/what-is-the-difference-in-pronunciation-between-%e6%a1%83%e3%82%82%e3%82%82-and-%e8%85%bf%e3%82%82%e3%82%82/53492#53492 –  Nov 28 '17 at 23:45
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    @funseiki No. You can only 飼う animals. –  Nov 28 '17 at 23:48

1 Answers1

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Yes, they are homophones, and this is why kanji is important.

  • [買]{か}う　→　to buy
  • [飼]{か}う　→　to keep/raise

I guess it could technically be used to say "I'm buying a cat", but no one would ever think that if they heard you say it. If you really wanted to convey the fact that the action you're currently doing is buying a cat, you'd be better off using [購入]{こう・にゅう}している or 買いつつある.

  • 今は猫を購入しているところです。
    OR
  • 今は猫を買いつつあります。

Even then, the latter is kind of suspect and could be ambiguous.

istrasci
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    買う is かう{LH} and かっている{LHHHH} while 飼う is かう{HL} and かっている{HLLLL}, so I'm not sure they can be called homophones. –  Nov 28 '17 at 22:49
  • @snailplane - what do the red lines signify? – funseiki Nov 29 '17 at 04:27
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    @funseiki Pitch accent... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_pitch_accent#Binary_pitch – Chocolate Nov 29 '17 at 16:39