息子

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 息子 is a noun read むすこ, referring to the speaker's son or the son of another person identified by context.
• Basic usage: Without an explicit possessor it may refer to the speaker's son in context, while another person's son is identified with の, as in 友人の息子.
  • 息子は春から一人で電車に乗る。 says that the son will ride the train alone beginning in spring; 友人の息子に絵本を贈った。 describes giving a picture book to a friend's son.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• 息子は
  • A kinship term without an explicit possessor relies on context to identify whose son is meant; it does not refer to everyone's sons.
• 友人の息子に
  • の links the friend to his or her son, while に marks that son as the recipient of the picture book.
• 息子 and 子ども
  • 子ども broadly denotes a child or offspring without specifying gender, while 息子 specifically identifies a son.