I’m learning the word 家 うち, which has one definition as (one’s own) home. It’s a no-adjective.
Does that mean this is saying (my home) or can it also mean, one’s home as well, like referring to another person’s home other than one’s own. Also, it’s an adjective describing the kind of home, but can it also be used to modify other nouns, like one’s own home/my home furniture or one’s own/my home supplies? I hope this question makes sense.
うち can mean any physical house, so it is possible to use it for other houses than your own.
Just be aware that another definition of うち is your own house and household, and that definition can’t apply to other people. It’s more than the physical building.
So 友達のうちの色は何ですか is possible because it’s just referring to the color of the building where your friend lives.
But if you don’t modify うち with something like 友達の before it, the “one’s own household” definition is the one likely to be understood.
Okay, so my own house/household only if not modified by something else. And can it be used to further describe more nouns, like my own house/household garage or table Or is it just left modifying the word house as belonging to me alone?
It’s not impossible to leave it unmodified and just mean “any house” but some kind of context will need to clarify what you mean.
You’re asking if うちのテーブル or うちのしゃこ will be understood as “our table” or “our garage”? Yeah… That would probably be understood, I don’t see what would be the problem.
Your best bet is always to go find examples and see how Japanese people are using it. I personally don’t use the word うち much at all.
Note that 家 also has the reading 「いえ」with usually refers to the house itself (“house”) while 「うち 」more closely means “home” (hence why it usually refers to yours).
For the terms home furniture and home supplies themselves, you’re looking at 家具 「かぐ」and 家財「かざい」, using the on’yomi. I also don’t particularly use 「うち」, as my living alone and renting of my house mean that I don’t really have a particular “household” as much as I do simply a place of living. I would say 「いえの中にテーブルがあります。」However, context reigns in Japanese conversation, so likely either usage would be fine unless the conversation was moved in a way that emphasized the household over the house itself.
Just to be clear though, うち does have the primary definition of 人が住むための建物 with the given example of 空き地に－が建った. Something on vacant land obviously isn’t yours.
自分の家庭。我が家。is the second definition.
Even though that’s the primary definition, I do agree that it seems to crop up less often for whatever reason.
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