Essential Japanese Vocabulary. Akira Miura
Taro joined the tennis club in high school.
It should be noted that English “enter” does not necessarily correspond to hairu 入る.
EXAMPLE:
(3) Tōnamento ni deru (not *hairu 入る) tsumori desu.
トーナメントに出るつもりです。
I’m planning on entering the tournament.
Hajime はじめ beginning
Hajime はじめ “beginning” and hajimete “for the first time” sound very much alike and are therefore often mistakenly used. Sentences (1a) and (2a) are wrong, while (1b) and (2b) are correct.
EXAMPLES:
(1a) *Nihon de wa, shinnen no hajimete no mikkakan yoku omochi o taberu.
*日本では、新年のはじめての三日間よくおもちを食べる。
lit., In Japan, they eat a lot of mochi for three days that occur for the first time in the new year.
(1b) Nihon de wa, shinnen no hajime no mikkakan yoku omochi o taberu.
日本では、新年のはじめの三日間よくおもちを食べる。
In Japan, they eat a lot of mochi during the first three days of the new year.
(2a) *Hajimete Nihongo ga heta deshita.
*はじめて日本語が下手でした。
lit., For the first time, I was bad at Japanese.
(2b) Hajime wa Nihongo ga heta deshita.
はじめは日本語が下手でした。
In the beginning, I was bad at Japanese.
Hajimeru 始める to begin something
At the beginning of something such as a meeting or a class, one may say “Let’s begin!” in English. English speakers, transferring this sentence to Japanese, often make the error of saying Hajimarimashō 始まりましょう. One must use the transitive counterpart as in sentence (1).
EXAMPLE:
(1) Hajimemashō.
始めましょう。
Let’s begin.
Hajimaru 始める is intransitive and means “something begins.” It cannot mean “someone begins something.” For the latter, the transitive hajimeru 始める is required. Although, in sentence (1) above, the object of the verb is not stated, it is clearly implied in that one wants to begin something such as a meeting or a class, hence the use of the transitive verb.
Likewise, the following sentence is also incorrect.
EXAMPLE:
(2) *Fuyu ni naru to, yuki ga furi-hajimaru.
*冬になると、雪が降り始まる。
When winter comes, it starts snowing.
In this case, although there is no noun that serves as the object, the verb furi- 降り is the object. The intransitive verb hajimaru 始まる, therefore, has to be changed to the transitive hajimeru 始める, as in
EXAMPLE:
(3) Fuyu ni naru to, yuki ga furi-hajimeru.
冬になると、雪が降り始める。
Ha
There are two kinds of hajimete. One means “for the first time” and is written 初めて, as in
EXAMPLE:
(1) Hajimete Kankokugo o kiita toki, zuibun Nihongo to chigau na to omotta.
初めて韓国語を聞いたとき、ずいぶん日本語と違うなと思った。
When I heard Korean for the first time, I thought it was really different from Japanese.
The other hajimete is the te-form of hajimeru 始める and is written 始めて, as in
EXAMPLE:
(2) Kyō wa kono shigoto o hajimete mikka-me da.
きょうはこの仕事を始めて三日目だ。
Today is the third day since I started this work.
These two words are not only written differently, but are pronounced differently. Hajimete 初めて has an accent on the second syllable, whereas hajimete 始めて is accentless.
Haku はく to put on, to wear
Haku はく is reserved for wearing hosiery (e.g., kutsushita 靴下 “socks” and sutokkingu ストッキング “stockings”), footwear (e.g., kutsu 靴 “shoes” and būtsu ブーツ “boots”), and other items that are worn on the lower part of the body by putting one’s legs through them (e.g., sukāto スカート “skirt” and zubon ズボン “trousers”).
EXAMPLES:
(1) Nihon no josei wa itsu-goro kara sukāto o haku yō ni natta n deshō ka.
日本の女性はいつごろからスカートをはくようになったんでしょうか。
I wonder when Japanese women started wearing skirts.
(2) Kono-goro no onna-no-hito wa tenki ga yokute mo būtsu o haite-iru.
このごろ女の人は天気がよくてもブーツをはいている。
Women these days wear boots even when the weather is good.
As a rule, the act of putting on certain items is haku はく while the state of wearing them is haite-iru はいている. In (3), for example, where the act of putting shoes on is the issue, only haku can be used whereas in (4), where the state of wearing a skirt is the issue, haite-iru is correct.
EXAMPLES:
(3) Nihonjin wa uchi o deru mae ni kutsu o haku (not *haite-iru はいている).
日本人は家を出る前に靴をはく。
Japanese put on their shoes before leaving the house.
(4) Asoko ni pinku no sukāto o haite-iru (not *haku はく) onnano-hito ga iru deshō.
あそこにピンクのスカートをはいている女の人がいるでしょう。
Do you see that woman who is wearing a pink skirt?
(See also HAMERU, KABURU, and KIRU.)
Ha
Ejecting something out of the mouth is haku 吐く, whatever it is that comes out, e.g.,
EXAMPLES:
(1a) tsuba o haku
つばを吐く
to spit
(1b) Samui hi ni wa, haku iki ga shiroku mieru.
寒い日には、吐く息が白く見える。