Friday, May 14, 2010

Fun with compound verbs (動詞) .

There's something particularly expressive about compound verbs, something I'm liking. Many of them seem to involve 思う (to think):

- 思う (to think) + 出す (to emerge) = 思い出す (to remember)
- 思う (to think) + がく (? possibly to frame, as in a picture) = 思いがく (to imagine)
- 思う (to think) + 切る (to cut) = 思い切る (to reach a decision)

Other examples:
- 閉める (to tie/cinch) + 殺す (to kill) = 絞め殺す (to strangle)
- 考える (to consider) + 直す (to correct) = 考え直す (to reconsider)
- 呼ぶ (to call) + 掛ける (to hang or suspend) = 呼び掛ける (to telephone, to address a crowd)
- 選る (to decide) + 分ける (to classify) = 選り分ける (to sort out)
- (just about anything) + 始める (to begin) or 続ける (to continue) or 終わる (to finish) = begin to do / continue doing / finish doing that thing

And, of course, with our friend 付く:

- 思う (to think) + 付く (to connect/attach/stick) = 思い付き (notion/(brainstorm)

This one's puzzling:

- 酔う (to get drunk) + 払う (to pay) = 酔っ払う ("to get drunk", but...to blow money getting drunk? Must be a nuance to the meaning.)

Verbal adjectives "bind" in this way, too:

- 読む (to read) + やすい (easy) = 読みやすい (easy to read)

Here's a really neat one derived from an ichidan verb:

- 耐える (to endure) + 難い (difficult) = 耐え難い (unbearable). There's muzukashii 難 again.

I notice that the first verb is in the base 2 form; is this related to the "continuation form" I mentioned before? そうかも知れないね。。。。 今眠いので考え寝よう。

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