Help with the カリ活用
 

Hello!
I previously asked a question on the Japanese Translation help thread, but I ran into something I hadn't seen previously (again. "orz ) and decided that the topic was semi-vague enough to deserve its own question thread. I'm sorry if this was presumptuous of me!

Can anyone explain to me, in clear English, what the カリ活用 form implies?
I get from yahoo JAPAN's dictionary that it's something like 若く＋あり＝若かり, but how would one describe this in English?
Mostly, I would like to know how would one use 「若かれ」and 「若からしむ」, etc.

I found >>this question<< on yahoo's chiebukuro somewhat helpful, but I don't completely understand the answer.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!!! ( ; w; )/

やけにプレッシャーかけてくるね～。そう言われると答 えにくいじゃん。:p

そ・　そんなつもりじゃありませんでしたけど；；　（ ＞.＜）；
ただハッキリした答えが欲しかったから・・・　（そん なのはないのかな？ｗ）

まあ・・・　まさえぐ先生なら簡単に答えられると思い ます！
（日本語が片言ですみません；；）

えっ？それで「片言」なの？ほとんど日本人の日本語じ ゃん！

もし「そんなつもりじゃありませんでしたけど」を、「 そんなつもりじゃなかったんだけど」って言ってたら完 全に日本人の日本語だったよ。やるね～。気に入った！

「まさえぐ先生なら簡単に答えられると思います！」な んて、さらなるプレッシャーかけてんじゃん。怖いな～ 、この新人。

In any case, how one should explain カリ活用 would have to largely depend on how you intend to use it.

1. Are you going to formally study Classical Japanese? Or,
2. Do you simply want to familiarize yourself with it for possible future use within the Modern Japanese context?

If #1 is indeed your intention, I would have to write about 25 pages in Japanese because anyone who is going to study Classical Japanese should already be 99% fluent in Modern Japanese. That is the absolute minimum prerequisite.

#2 is different. Anyone who claims to be an advanced Japanese student must be familiar with カリ活用 because it's actually used in Modern Japanese to the extent that it is used.

カリ活用 is a supplementary conjugation system for Japanese adjectives. In Modern Japanese, it's most often used in literary writing and, equally importantly, in the daily conversations among adult speakers.

カリ活用 was born out of necessity than anything else. Specifically, it enables adjectives to immediately precede auxiliary verbs, which would have been impossible within the main conjugation system. 「若く＋あり＝若かり」 is a prime example of that. We can say 若かりし日々(= "the days when someone was young") nice and simple because of the カリ活用. Without it, the phrase would be much longer and incomparably more awkward. カリ活用　enabled us to say "in the state of being ~~~" very easily.

Regarding 「若かれ」, DO NOT say 若かれし for 若かりし. Some people use it but it's plain wrong. You can use it in phrases like 若かれど = "though someone is young".

「若からしむ」 is NOT used in Modern Japanese. In Classical Japanese, it is the honorific form of "young".
____________________________

Some common phrases using カリ活用 that intermidiate learners or above would need to know:

多かれ少なかれ
早かれ遅かれ
良かれ悪かれ
良かれと思って言う

Oh masaegu, thank you, thank you, thank you so very much!!!

Ahahaha, I'd love to study Classical Japanese, someday!
Thank you so, so much for the simple explanation! ( ; w; )/

Y-You're so kind! (；//w/；) :rheart: