Talk:いつも

何時も(noun)

I have never been in the situation the word is used as a noun... If it is recognized as a noun by the cause of the use that '何時も' can be followed by 'は', I think it should be explained as adverb: "何時も" + enhancer particle:"は" RFC. Thanks--Carl Daniels 11:53, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

いつも as a noun is synonymous with 普段 and often interchangeable with it. You might want to check the following collocations: いつものこと, いつもと違う, いつもであれば, and いつもより. The corresponding dictionary entry is available here [1]. --Tohru 12:26, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Romaji representation: particles separate

Particles in romaji are written separately from the attached noun, hence itsu mo, not itsumo. Broadly similar to an apple vs. anapple. -- Eiríkr Útlendi │ Tala við mig 19:21, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

I have never written これが as korega. However いつも is a single word and not a simple combination of いつ + も anymore. As you know, the particles も and は never coexist, and you cannot say *だれもは, *なにもは, or *どこもは, but you can naturally say いつもは (“usually, but not this time”). When より and も coexist the order is よりも such as だれよりも (“than anyone”), なによりも (“than anything”), どこよりも (“than anywhere”), and awkwardly いつよりも (“than anytime”), but you can also say いつもより (“than usual”). In this particular case, writing the word without a space is correct. — TAKASUGI Shinji (talk) 06:54, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

I fully agree that いつも is a single term, which is why we have an entry -- this is a single integral semantic unit. However, even as a single term or single semantic unit, with idiomatic rules of use, this is still two words -- いつ + も. English fast food is a single semantic unit, effectively a single term for Wiktionary purposes, but this is still written as separate words.

The entire raison d'être of romaji is to help readers of Japanese who have not yet mastered even kana, and from that perspective, I feel very strongly that writing word + particle as a single orthographic element in romaji does any such readers a disservice.

FWIW, google:"誰もは", google:"だれもは", google books:"誰もは", google books:"だれもは" all generate hits showing what appears to be actual use of も + は. Similarly for google:"何もはない", google:"なにもはない", google books:"何もはない", google books:"なにもはない", and also for google:"どこもは" -"docomo" and google books:"どこもは" -"docomo". This usage might not be "correct" from a prescriptivist standpoint, and it is certainly rarer in books and other printed media, but it does seem to be intentional and meaningful. It would therefore seem more accurate to say that "the particles も and は should never coexeist, in strict contexts such as formal or academic writing." -- Eiríkr Útlendi │ Tala við mig 18:13, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

Have you checked the Google hits? Few of them are real usages of も + は. That is not a prescriptive standpoint at all but just a fact. As I have written, there is no reason to separate いつも with a space because the も in いつも is not a particle anymore and it is rather a suffix now. There is another evidence: in a short reply, 誰も, 何も, どれも, and どこも are negative as shown below:

• この人たちを知ってる? — いや、誰も。

  Do you know these guys? — No one.

• この件について知ってる? — いや、何も。

  Do you know anything about this case? — Nothing.

However いつも is never understood as negative in a short reply. — TAKASUGI Shinji (talk) 00:59, 26 February 2013 (UTC)

Thank you for taking the time to explain your position. Your argument makes sense. I do encounter instances of the "itsu mo" romaji spelling with some frequency, which was part of the basis of my previous position. I have added a usage note mentioning the different spelling, and explaining that this is a single term. Please edit, etc., as you see fit. -- Eiríkr Útlendi │ Tala við mig 02:24, 4 March 2013 (UTC)

In fact there is no authority to determine which spelling is right. If the two spellings are attested, we just have to indicate both. — TAKASUGI Shinji (talk) 15:46, 4 March 2013 (UTC)