This year in Japanese: “kotoshi” or “honnen”, explained in detail

How to say “this year” in Japanese

In Japanese, there are two major ways to say ‘this year’: “kotoshi” and “honnen”. In this blog post, I will explain both words in detail based on their kanji expressions. And also, I will explain their difference through example sentences. Let’s get started!

Contents

• Definition and meaning of “kotoshi”
• Kanji of “kotoshi”
• Definition and meaning of “honnen”
• Kanji of “honnen”
• Example #1: how to say “this year” in Japanese
• Example #2: how to say “this year” politely in Japanese
• Summary: kotoshi vs honnen

Definition and meaning of “kotoshi”

First of all, let me start with the definition and meaning of “kotoshi”.

• kotoshi – 今年 (ことし) : a noun meaning ‘this year’ in Japanese.

Grammatically, it is a noun. In reality, however, it can also be used as an adverb and inserted almost anywhere in a sentence to say “this year”. So, “kotoshi” can be used as both a noun and an adverb. This is a kind of trait of time-related nouns in Japanese. It might sound a bit weird to Japanese learners, but this trait is not unique to the Japanese language. Actually, also in English, the words, “this year”, can be used as both a noun and an adverb. So, Japanese learners, especially those who are familiar with English, can easily understand this point, I guess.

The meaning of “kotoshi” is quite simple and clear, I think. To understand this word a bit more clearly, however, let me explain its kanji characters in detail, one by one.

Kanji of “kotoshi”

Below are the kanji characters used in the word, “kotoshi”.

• 今 : a kanji character often used as a prefix to add the meaning of ‘this’, ‘current’, or ‘present’ to its following words. This kanji can also be found in other words like “kyou” and “konshuu“.
• 年 : a kanji character widely used to mean ‘year’ or ‘years’ in Japanese. This kanji can also be found in other words like “kyonen” and “rainen“.

From these two kanji characters, we can understand that the word, “kotoshi”, literally means ‘this year’ in Japanese. So, what the kanji characters of “kotoshi” express is completely in line with the meaning.

Next, then, let me explain the other word, “honnen”.

Definition and meaning of “honnen”

Below are the definition and meaning of “honnen”.

• honnen– 本年 (ほんねん) : a noun meaning ‘this year’ in Japanese.

This word can also be used as an adverb and inserted almost anywhere in a sentence to say “this year”. So, this word can be used in a quite similar way that “kotoshi” is. To understand the difference, let me explain the kanji characters of “honnen” in detail.

Kanji of “honnen”

Below are the kanji characters used in the word, “honnen”.

• 本 : a kanji character often used as a prefix to add the meaning of ‘this’, ‘current’, or ‘present’ to its following words. This kanji is widely considered as more polite than “今” as a prefix.
• 年 : the same as explained above.

From these two kanji characters, we can understand that “honnen” has the same meaning as “kotoshi” does, but more polite. So, Japanese people tend to say “honnen” in more formal situations to mean ‘this year’ in Japanese.

Then, let me explain how to use “kotoshi” and “honnen” through the example sentences below.

Example #1: how to say “this year” in Japanese

Below are the new words used in the example sentence.

• wa – は : a binding particle working as a case maker or topic maker. In the example, it is put after the noun, “kotoshi”, to give the topic. The phrase, “kotoshi wa”, is often used as a topic maker to put a focus on ‘this year’.
• ame – 雨 (あめ) : a noun meaning ‘rain’ in Japanese. Learn more about “ame“.
• ga – が : a case particle put after a noun to make the subject word or the object word in a sentence. In the example, it is put after the noun, “ame”, to make the subject word in the sentence.
• ōi – 多い (おおい) : an i-adjective meaning ‘a lot of’, ‘many’, ‘much’, or some such. It is used to describe a large amount. In the example, it is used to express the large amount of rain.

This is a typical usage of “kotoshi”. In this example, it is used as a part of the adverb phrase, “kotoshi wa”, which puts a focus on ‘this year’.

The original nuance of this Japanese example sentence is more like ‘rain is much this year’, but its meaning can be interpreted as ‘we have a lot of rain this year’. Like in this case, literal translations sometimes don’t work well, so we need to be careful with ways of tranlsation.

Next, then, let me paraphrase this example sentence with “honnen” as follows.

Example #2: how to say “this year” politely in Japanese

Below is the new word used in the example sentence.

• desu – です : an auxiliary verb put after a noun or adjective to make it polite. Probably, it is well known for a part of Japanese desu form. In the example, it is put after the i-adjective, “ōi”, to make it sound polite.

“Kotoshi” has been replaced by “honnen”. In accordance with this change in politeness, the auxiliary verb, “desu”, has been added after the i-adjective, “ōi”. This example sentence is polite enough, but honestly sounds a bit weird because it is too polite as an expression for rain. In many cases, we can use “kotoshi” to say “this year” in Japanese.

Summary: kotoshi vs honnen

In this blog post, I’ve explained the two words, “kotoshi” and “honnen”, in detail based on their kanji expressions. And also, I’ve explained their difference through the example sentences. Let me summarize them as follows.

• kotoshi – 今年 (ことし) : a noun meaning ‘this year’ in Japanese. These two kanji characters literally mean ‘this year’. This sounds a bit casual, but would fit with more various situations than “honnen”.
• honnen– 本年 (ほんねん) : a noun meaning ‘this year’ in Japanese. These two kanji characters literally mean ‘this year’. Japanese people tend to use this word in more formal situations.

Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.