Sunday, 22 May 2016

meaning - Is tonai (都内)only used for the Tokyo metropolitan area specifically?


I was having a chat conversation and used the word to comment on a profile. The person chatted that there are different words used depending on where the person is from, so if a person is from the Sendai metropolitan area, tonai is not used. Please advise.



Answer




Is tonai (都内)only used for the Tokyo metropolitan area specifically?



Yes. We have only one [都]{と} in Japan: [東京都]{とうきょうと}.
[都内]{とない} lit. within the prefecture of Tokyo ⇒ in/within Tokyo 


Compare:
[道内]{どうない} -- in/within Hokkaido (北海道)

[府内]{ふない} -- in/within Osaka or Kyoto (We have two 府's: 大阪府 and 京都府)
[県内]{けんない} -- in/within the prefecture (other than the four above)



if a person is from the Sendai metropolitan area, tonai is not used.



No, 都内 isn't used to refer to 仙台 or 宮城.
Sendai ([仙台]{せんだい}) is in Miyagi Prefecture ([宮城県]{みやぎけん}). You'd say 宮城県内 to mean "within Miyagi Prefecture" and 仙台市内 to mean "within Sendai City".


[市内]{しない} -- in/within the [市]{し}/city
[町内]{ちょうない} -- in/within the [町]{まち/ちょう}/town
[村内]{そんない} -- in/within the [村]{むら}/village



No comments:

Post a Comment

readings - Appending 内 to a company name is read ない or うち?

For example, if I say マイクロソフト内のパートナーシップは強いです, is the 内 here read as うち or ない? Answer 「内」 in the form: 「Proper Noun + 内」 is always read 「ない...