仕える

Japanese

Kanji in this term

仕

Etymology

From Old Japanese root verb つく (tsuku, “to stick at/into/onto/to”) > by extension, "to obey a person, to take a job, to serve a purpose".

Incomplete stem つか (tsuka) + auxiliary verb ふ (fu, “repetition, ongoing state”) (becoming verb ending う (u) in modern Japanese) > つかう (tsukau, “to use”).

Conjugation into potential form > つかえる (tsukaeru, “to be capable of being used; to be useful”).

Verb

仕える (intransitive, ichidan conjugation, hiragana つかえる, romaji tsukaeru, historical hiragana つかへる)

1. to serve, serve under, take service under
2. to enter public service

Usage notes

Unlike the English verb serve, which can take the object of service as a grammatical object, 仕える is always intransitive, and takes the particle に (ni) to specify the person, goal, etc. being served. From the etymology and grammar, a more idiomatic translation into English might be "to be useful to someone", where the bold "to" corresponds to the に particle in the Japanese. Note that this grammatical correspondence may disappear in a more idiomatic translation.

Examples:

最も高い目的に仕える

もっともたかいもくてきにつかえる
motto mo takai mokuteki ni tsukaeru

to be useful to the highest purpose → to serve the highest purpose

この数年間、父母に仕えている。

このすうねんかん、ちちははにつかえている。
Kono sūnenkan, chichihaha ni tsukaete iru.

I have been being useful to my parents for several years now. → I have been taking care of my parents for several years now.

Conjugation

Conjugation of "仕える" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Stem forms	Imperfective (未然形)	仕え	つかえ	tsukae
	Continuative (連用形)	仕え	つかえ	tsukae
	Terminal (終止形)	仕える	つかえる	tsukaeru
	Attributive (連体形)	仕える	つかえる	tsukaeru
	Hypothetical (仮定形)	仕えれ	つかえれ	tsukaere
	Imperative (命令形)	仕えよ¹ 仕えろ²	つかえよ¹ つかえろ²	tsukaeyo¹ tsukaero²
Key constructions	Passive	仕えられる	つかえられる	tsukaerareru
	Causative	仕えさせる 仕えさす	つかえさせる つかえさす	tsukaesaseru tsukaesasu
	Potential	仕えられる 仕えれる³	つかえられる つかえれる³	tsukaerareru tsukaereru³
	Volitional	仕えよう	つかえよう	tsukaeyō
	Negative	仕えない 仕えぬ 仕えん	つかえない つかえぬ つかえん	tsukaenai tsukaenu tsukaen
	Negative continuative	仕えず	つかえず	tsukaezu
	Formal	仕えます	つかえます	tsukaemasu
	Perfective	仕えた	つかえた	tsukaeta
	Conjunctive	仕えて	つかえて	tsukaete
	Hypothetical conditional	仕えれば	つかえれば	tsukaereba
¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative ³ Colloquial potential

Phrases

• 神に仕える (kami ni tsukaeru): serve God
• 主人に仕える (shujin ni tsukaeru): serve a master, serve an employer faithfully
• 二君に仕えず (nikun ni tsukaezu): not serve two masters
• 夫に良く仕える (otto ni yoku tsukaeru): be devoted to a husband

Idioms

• すまじきものは宮仕え (すまじきものはみやづかえ, sumajiki mono wa miyazukae): it is better to work for oneself than to work for someone else

Alternative forms

• 事える (rare)

Synonyms

• (serve, serve under): 奉仕する (ほうしする, hōshi suru; ぶしする, bushi suru)
• (enter public service): 仕官する (しかんする, shikan suru)

Derived terms

Derived terms

仕え女 (つかえめ, tsukaeme): maidservant 仕え奉る (つかえまつる, tsukaematsuru): to serve; to build something as commanded 側仕え (そばづかえ, sobazukae): personal attendant, valet, maid 宮仕え (みやづかえ, miyazukae): service to the royal court; public service, company employment 兼ね仕える (かねつかえる, kanetsukaeru): to serve multiple masters or causes at the same time

Related terms

Homophones deriving from the root つく (tsuku)

使える (つかえる, tsukaeru): to be useful, to be capable of being used 支える, 閊える (つかえる, tsukaeru): to become clogged, blocked, stopped-up