Grammar detail: Compound verbs

Compound verbs

244 words

My current mastery of this grammar point:

Japanese has the ability to combine multiple verbs into a single form, known as a compound verb. Compound verbs can be a very useful standardized shortcut, and modern Japanese contains over 2700 of them!

Certain verbs are very commonly used as the second verb, and give an extra sense to the first verb. For example:

The most common is
こ
込
む, which occurs in 255 compound verbs! On its own 込む means 'to go/put into', and when combined with other verbs introduces the suggestion of in/out motion, such as
か
駆
け
こ
込
む meaning 'rush into'.
なお
直
す ordinarily means 'to correct, to fix', but when added to another verb, introduces the idea of doing something again. For example, やり
なお
直
す means 'to redo, to try again';
かんが
考
え
なお
直
す means 'to rethink'.

Other verbs are very commonly used as the first verb, and when combined with other verbs indicate different ways in which that verb is performed. For example:

と
取
る meaning 'to take' can be combined with 70+ verbs to show how something can be taken, such as
と
取
り
あ
上
げる 'to take up',
と
取
り
け
消
す 'to cancel',
と
取
り
つか
使
う 'to handle'.
み
見
る meaning 'to see' can be combined with 50+ verbs to indicate different ways of seeing/looking, such as
みあ
見上
げる 'to look up at'.

In Japanese compound verbs are known as

ふくごう

複合

どうし

動詞

The Japanese National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL) has collected a comprehensive database of compound verbs called the Compound Verb Lexicon - see the links below.

More information / references

Compound Verb Lexicon ⇗
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2014/11/24/language/japanese-language-group-puts-compound-verbs-one-place/ ⇗