Is it more common to write "wakarimasu" with or without kanji?


I've had two vocabulary lists where _wakarimasu_ is written as 分かります. However
most of the time in news articles and manga I find it back as just わかります. So I
wondered what is commonly used among Japanese people.

Is it like writing _ohayou_ as お早う or is it just a matter of preference?




Here are the hit counts from
[BCCWJ](http://pj.ninjal.ac.jp/corpus_center/bccwj/en/).

All entries (1971-2008):

  * わかった: 6492 分かった: 1739 解った: 130
  * わかります: 2834 分かります: 1065 解ります: 109
  * おはよう: 1300 お早う: 84
  * ありがとう: 7090 有難う: 420 有り難う: 102

Recent entries (2000-):

  * わかった: 4162 分かった: 1327 解った: 92
  * わかります: 2164 分かります: 989 解ります: 100
  * おはよう: 1140 お早う: 47
  * ありがとう: 5573 有難う: 332 有り難う: 95

(Note: these should contain a few false-positives such as こわかった and 随分かったるい)

So わかる is roughly 3 times more common than 分かる, but 分かる is not uncommon at
all. While お早う is becoming less and less popular, the usage of 分かる is not
declining.

I personally think both わかる and 分かる are totally fine unless you are a
professional writer who has to follow some opinionated guideline. I recommend
you write おはよう and ありがとう in hiragana.




Here are the hit counts from
[BCCWJ](http://pj.ninjal.ac.jp/corpus_center/bccwj/en/).

All entries (1971-2008):

  * わかった: 6492 分かった: 1739 解った: 130
  * わかります: 2834 分かります: 1065 解ります: 109
  * おはよう: 1300 お早う: 84
  * ありがとう: 7090 有難う: 420 有り難う: 102

Recent entries (2000-):

  * わかった: 4162 分かった: 1327 解った: 92
  * わかります: 2164 分かります: 989 解ります: 100
  * おはよう: 1140 お早う: 47
  * ありがとう: 5573 有難う: 332 有り難う: 95

(Note: these should contain a few false-positives such as こわかった and 随分かったるい)

So わかる is roughly 3 times more common than 分かる, but 分かる is not uncommon at
all. While お早う is becoming less and less popular, the usage of 分かる is not
declining.

I personally think both わかる and 分かる are totally fine unless you are a
professional writer who has to follow some opinionated guideline. I recommend
you write おはよう and ありがとう in hiragana.

