Distinguishing 「話し」 する and 五段 usage


## Facts

  1. The noun はなし can be written 話 or 話し.
  2. In colloquial contexts, you can omit 「を」 from 話{はなし}をする, making it 話{はなし}する.
  3. There is also a 五段 verb, 話す{はなす}.
  4. The continuative (連用形) form of both 話する and 話す can look like 話し.

## The problem

From the facts, you can collect 3 words that look exactly the same but have a
different meaning (grammatical function). You can probably rule out the noun
話し with the help of context, but you still have either 話し{はなしし} or 話{はな}し.

## The question

How can I know when which one is meant? Or does it make such a big difference
that I should even care?

Some examples:

>   * 話しながら…
>   * 何人に話した？
>   * 明日お話します。← This must be する because of お-?
>   * 彼は大声で話した。
>




In modern standard Japanese, はなし as a noun is always written as 話, without し.
This rule is taught at school today and is fairly strict, although you may see
exceptions in old documents. As a verb, はなす is written with okurigana.

話 is not a suru-verb. You usually need a direct object marker を when it's used
with する.

> シンデレラの話【はなし】 **を** する。 (話 is a noun)

はなしして and はなしした can appear in two situations:

  1. When はなし is a noun and the following を is omitted because it's a casual sentence.

> ママ、シンデレラの話【はなし】して！ (話 is a noun)

  2. As part of a humble expression `お + masu-stem + する`.

> 本日は、世界の童話についてお話【はな】ししていきます。

To distinguish, first note that omission of を after 話 can appear only in
fairly casual conversations. And looking at the modifiers will usually tell
whether it's used as a noun or a verb. Unless 話 is clearly modified by an
adjectival expression in a casual conversational sentence, you can assume
話して/話した is a verb. In your examples, 「話しながら」「何人に話した」「彼は大声で話した」 are
theoretically ambiguous, but you can usually assume these はなし are verbs.

>   * 先生が楽しい話【はなし】してるよ！ (a noun follows after 楽しい)
>   * 先生は楽しく話【はな】している。 (a verb follows after 楽しく)
>

Humble おはなしします should be written as お話しします, because 話す is a verb in this
construction (cf. お預かりします, お持ちしましょう). That means your third expression is
grammatically wrong, although this mistake is found even among native
speakers.




In modern standard Japanese, はなし as a noun is always written as 話, without し.
This rule is taught at school today and is fairly strict, although you may see
exceptions in old documents. As a verb, はなす is written with okurigana.

話 is not a suru-verb. You usually need a direct object marker を when it's used
with する.

> シンデレラの話【はなし】 **を** する。 (話 is a noun)

はなしして and はなしした can appear in two situations:

  1. When はなし is a noun and the following を is omitted because it's a casual sentence.

> ママ、シンデレラの話【はなし】して！ (話 is a noun)

  2. As part of a humble expression `お + masu-stem + する`.

> 本日は、世界の童話についてお話【はな】ししていきます。

To distinguish, first note that omission of を after 話 can appear only in
fairly casual conversations. And looking at the modifiers will usually tell
whether it's used as a noun or a verb. Unless 話 is clearly modified by an
adjectival expression in a casual conversational sentence, you can assume
話して/話した is a verb. In your examples, 「話しながら」「何人に話した」「彼は大声で話した」 are
theoretically ambiguous, but you can usually assume these はなし are verbs.

>   * 先生が楽しい話【はなし】してるよ！ (a noun follows after 楽しい)
>   * 先生は楽しく話【はな】している。 (a verb follows after 楽しく)
>

Humble おはなしします should be written as お話しします, because 話す is a verb in this
construction (cf. お預かりします, お持ちしましょう). That means your third expression is
grammatically wrong, although this mistake is found even among native
speakers.

