[aphextwin]

I'm just beginning but am finding the whole process confusing.

For example, one of the words (on smart.fm) I'm asked to memorize is "少ない". I look up "少" and it's kun-reading is "すく.ない"

if "少" = "すく.ない" then wouldn't
"少ない" = "すく.ないない"? It seems redundant. I noticed there's a "." in the definition, I guess signifying "すく" is the root? Is that what I should memorize when I'm learning "少".

In other words, when I'm learning kanji for the first time and come across "少" should I just memorize these three things

1) what the kanji looks like -> "少"
2) what it means -> small, few
3) its root -> "すく"

is that the proper process for a beginner. Is memorizing "すく" enough because when I come across it next time, in actual text, it will always have a suffix which finishes it off and becomes a word?

Just to reiterate, I don't get why when I look up a kanji kun reading it gives me a finished word. If the kanji = that finished word, why wouldn't writing that kanji be enough in actual text. There's always suffixes attached, leading me to believe the actual kun reading or root or whatever is smaller. What do I actually need to memorize right now as a beginner? Thanks