Learn triple Japanese with compound verbs

Many want to increase their vocabulary in the Japanese language, with the verb being one of the main focuses, as it allows people to express actions. There is a simple technique that can triple your learning Japanese called compound verbs.

Compound verbs are nothing more than two verbs that together form a different third verb. The compound verbs in Japanese are called Fukugou doushi [複合動詞] where [複] means double and [合] means to combine.

By studying compound verbs, you learn 3 words at once, the compound verb plus the 2 verbs that make up the compound verb. Studying using compound verbs can enrich your Japanese and even triple the speed of your learning.

Understanding compound verbs in Japanese

There are verbs that are compounded only with the aim of expressing two actions happening at the same time, but there are also verbs that together form a new action that can only be written using this composition of two verbs.

In fact, compound verbs can work in several ways:

• Combination of verbs that express sequential or simultaneous actions;
• The second verb adds a meaning to the first verb;
• The first verb works as a prefix and modifies the second verb;
• The 2 verbs come together to form a new word with a new meaning;

Remembering that a compound verb is not necessarily a verb together with another verb. Sometimes a verb can be composed of a particle, adjective, noun, but there are other cases apart.

There is no standard used to differentiate the function of these compound verbs, you need to understand the meaning and function of each verb. Some examples of compound verbs are:

• Hashiri-tsuzukeru [走り続ける] means continue running;
• Yomi-hajimeru [読み始める] means to start reading;
• Hanashi-au [話し合う] which means to discuss, to talk, and to negotiate;
• Omoi-dasu [思い出す] means to remember and to recall;

Note that the first verb often appears in the form of a noun. For example, if we take hanashi from Hanashi-au, we have the noun conversation which is hanashi [話]. Likewise, omoi [思い] can mean thoughts.

So besides learning 3 verbs at once, we can try to transform the verb into a noun. This becomes easy because most verbs are conjugated in a form similar to the noun, except in cases like hanashi [話] which appears without the [し] when it is a noun.

A tip to find out the meaning of the compound verb is to paste it into Google Images. Sometimes the dictionary has so many meanings that we are totally confused, google images can help in this regard.

List of compound verbs - Fukugou Doushi

Kuichigau [食い違う] - Disagree, go against, differ, collide, go wrong; 

• Kuu [食う] - Eat;
• Chigau [違う] - Differ, is wrong, different;

Kumikomu [組み込む] - Insert; include; incorporate

• Kumu [組む] - Cross, trace, unite;
• Komu [込む] - To fill, to shake, to put, to dive, to continue

Detekuru [出て来る] - To come out, appear, emerge, come outside; 

• Deru [出る] - To exit;
• Kuru [来る] - Come;

Ochitsuku [落ち着く] - To calm down, to recover, to compose oneself, to settle down; 

• Ochite [落ちる] - Fall, decrease, fail;
• Tsuku [着く] - Arrive, sit down, reach;
• Things like coming to one's senses, reaching a place;

Aogimiru [仰ぎ見る] - respect, look up (sky); 

• Aogu [仰ぐ] to look up;
• Miru [見る] see;

Aoritateru [煽り立てる] - alarm, worry, agitate; 

• Tateru [立てる] - to raise, to place, to erect, to push;
• Aoru [煽る] - To fan, to incite, to beat;

Naguriau [殴り合う] - Two people punching each other; 

• Naguri [殴り] - to hit;
• Au [合う] - To unite, to fuse, to combine;
• Literally a meeting of punches;

Atehamete [当てはめて] - Fill in; 

• Ate [当あて] - objective, purpose;
• Hameru [嵌める] - Insert, place;

Asobiniiku [遊びに行く] - Play outside; 

• Asobu [遊ぶ] - Play, to play;
• Iku [行く] - Ir;
• に - Particle
• This doesn't look like a compound verb, since it has a particle, but it's good to leave it as an example.

You might prefer to peruse a site made by NINJAL that shares over 2759 compound verbs in English, Japanese and Korean. The sites in question are: db4.ninjal.ac.jp/vvlexicon and nlb.ninjal.ac.jp/headword

I hope these tips will help you improve your Japanese. Isn't it much better to learn several words and verbs at once? If you liked the article share it and leave your comments.