来年

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 来年, read らいねん, is a time noun for the calendar year immediately after the year containing the reference point.
• Basic usage: It can be topicalized as 来年は or modify a season through の in 来年の春.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Next year versus twelve months later
  • 来年 means the next calendar year and is not limited to a point exactly twelve months from now.
• Particle use
  • It can function directly as a time expression, but it needs の when modifying another noun, as in 来年の春.