Thomas Ilsley
What's the difference between 今日 and 本日? Do they both mean today? I have been trying to learn new Kanji and to put them in sentences I have been writing. I was told that きょう means today, and when looking to see if there Kanji for it ’今日' comes up, but while looking through I came across ほんじつ and the Kanji for this is '本日'. When I search to find out what ほんじつ means it keeps showing it means today. If they both mean 'today', how do you when to use which one?
Dec 14, 2015 2:58 PM
Answers · 3
2
Basically they mean the same thing 'today' There is almost no difference between them in terms of meaning. But we don't use 本日 in daily conversation because it sounds too formal. But when you make a speech in formal situation, you may use '本日' But you can also say 今日 in formal situation. I've never thought about such a difference, and I think it's interesting to think about own language!! I hope it will be a help for you:)
December 14, 2015
Hi, it might be already solved question, but let me answer this additional question. As Toshi mentioned, 本日 and 今日 are generally completely same meaning. The difference is that 本日 is more a little formal than 今日. You can write both 本日 and 今日 as "today". Japanese who read it will not have any questions about it. Thanks
May 17, 2016
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