う
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Japanese[edit]
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Etymology 1[edit]
Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 宇 in the cursive sōsho style.
Pronunciation[edit]
Syllable[edit]
う (romaji u)
- The hiragana syllable う (u). Its equivalent in katakana is ウ (u). It is the third syllable in the gojūon order; its position is あ行う段 (a-gyō u-dan, “row a, section u”).
See also[edit]
- (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, ゆゅ, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ
Etymology 2[edit]
/mu/ → /ũ/ → /u/ → (fused with the /a/ ending in the preceding verb stem) /ɔː/ → /oː/
From Old Japanese む (mu). See the entry at よう for more information.
Suffix[edit]
う • (-u) uninflectable (in Modern Japanese, no longer pronounced -u but fused with the preceding vowel to make -ō or -yō)
- Used to make the volitional form of verbs.
- Expressing one's will to do something.
- そろそろ帰ろう。
- Sorosoro kaerō.
- I'll return before long.
- 手伝おうか。
- Tetsudaō ka.
- Shall I help?
- 誕生日ケーキを作ろうと思っています。
- Tanjōbi-kēki o tsukurō to omotte imasu.
- I'm thinking about baking a birthday cake.
- 誕生日ケーキを作ろうとしています。
- Tanjōbi-kēki o tsukurō to shite imasu.
- I'm trying to bake a birthday cake.
- そろそろ帰ろう。
- Inducing or stimulating other person to do something.
- 明日一緒に学校に行こう。
- Ashita issho ni gakkō ni ikō.
- Let's go to school together tomorrow.
- 明日一緒に学校に行こう。
- (archaic) Presenting a supposition.
- Expressing one's will to do something.
Usage notes[edit]
Attaches only to the 未然形 (mizenkei, “irrealis or incomplete form”) of Group I (godan) verbs, with the sound change au → ō. The pitch of the verb construction falls on the mora before う, regardless of the pitch accent of the base verb.
Word | dictionary form | mizenkei + -u (with sound change au → ō, eu → yō) |
historical kana (reflecting underlying form before sound change) |
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godan verbs (type 1) | |||
書く | かく (káꜜkù) | かこう (kàkóꜜò) | かかう |
泳ぐ | およぐ (òyóꜜgù) | およごう (òyógóꜜò) | およがう |
話す | はなす (hànáꜜsù) | はなそう (hànásóꜜò) | はなさう |
待つ | まつ (máꜜtsù) | まとう (màtóꜜò) | またう |
死ぬ | しぬ (shìnú) | しのう (shìnóꜜò) | しなう |
呼ぶ | よぶ (yòbú) | よぼう (yòbóꜜò) | よばう |
読む | よむ (yóꜜmù) | よもう (yòmóꜜò) | よまう |
作る | つくる (tsùkúꜜrù) | つくろう (tsùkúróꜜò) | つくらう |
買う | かう (kàú) | かおう (kàóꜜò) | かはう |
-i adjectives (archaic) | |||
高い | たかい (takai) | たかかろう (takakarō) | たかからう |
auxiliaries | |||
だ | だ (da) | だろう (darō) | だらう |
です | です (desu) | でしょう (deshō) | でせう |
ます | ます (masu) | ましょう (mashō) | ませう |
ない | ない (nai) | なかろう (nakarō) (archaic) | なからう |
たい | たい (tai) | たかろう (takarō) (archaic) | たからう |
た | た (ta) | たろう (tarō) (archaic) | たらう |
The volitional form of Group II (ichidan) and Group III (irregular) verbs are formed with よう (-yō) instead of う (-u).
In traditional Japanese grammar, this is a 助動詞 (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”), with the sole form う (u) as the 終止形 (shūshikei, “terminal form”) and the 連体形 (rentaikei, “adnominal form”). Morphologically, this is an uninflecting inflectional suffix whose proper shape is /oː/ (-ō), attaching to the stem of consonant-stem verbs.
See also[edit]
Verbs | -i adjectives | nouns and -na adjectives | |||
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Nonpast | Plain | Affirmative | Use the dictionary form | stem + い (-i) | noun + だ (da) (noun + である (de aru)) |
Negative | mizenkei + ない (-nai) | stem + くない (-ku nai) | noun + で(は)ない (de [wa] nai) | ||
Polite | Affirmative | ren'yōkei + ます (-masu) | stem + いです (-i desu) | noun + です (desu) | |
Negative | ren'yōkei + ません (-masen) | stem + くないです (-ku nai desu) stem + くありません (-ku arimasen) |
noun + で(は)ないです (de [wa] nai desu) noun + で(は)ありません (de [wa] arimasen) | ||
Past | Plain | Affirmative | ren'yōkei (with onbin sound changes for Group I verbs) + た (-ta) | stem + かった (-katta) | noun + だった (datta) (noun + であった (de atta)) |
Negative | mizenkei + なかった (-nakatta) | stem + くなかった (-ku nakatta) | noun + で(は)なかった (de [wa] nakatta) | ||
Polite | Affirmative | ren'yōkei + ました (-mashita) | stem + かったです (-katta desu) | noun + でした (deshita) | |
Negative | ren'yōkei + ませんでした (-masen deshita) | stem + くなかったです (-ku nakatta desu) stem + くありませんでした (-ku arimasen deshita) |
noun + で(は)なかったです (de [wa] nakatta desu) noun + で(は)ありませんでした (de [wa] arimasen deshita) | ||
Volitional | Plain | mizenkei (of Group I verbs) + う (-u > -o) mizenkei (of other verbs) + よう (-yō) |
†stem + かろう (-karō) (stem + いだろう (-i darō)) |
noun + だろう (darō) (noun + であろう (de arō)) | |
Polite | ren'yōkei + ましょう (-mashō) | (stem + いでしょう (-i deshō)) | noun + でしょう (deshō) | ||
Conjunctive | ren'yōkei (with onbin sound changes for Group I verbs) + て (-te) | stem + くて (-kute) | noun + で (de) (noun + であって (de atte)) | ||
Hypothetical conditional | kateikei + ば (-ba) | stem + ければ (-kereba) | (noun + であれば (de areba)) |
Etymology 3[edit]
For pronunciation and definitions of う – see the following entries. | ||||||||||||||||
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(This term, う, is an alternative spelling of the above Sino-Japanese terms. For a list of all kanji read as う, not just those used in Japanese terms, see Category:Japanese kanji read as う.) |
Etymology 4[edit]
For pronunciation and definitions of う – see the following entry. | ||
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(This term, う, is an alternative spelling of the above term. For a list of all kanji read as う, not just those used in Japanese terms, see Category:Japanese kanji read as う.) |
Etymology 5[edit]
Suffix[edit]
う • (-u) (in Modern Japanese, no longer pronounced -u but fused with the preceding vowel)
- Alternative form of く (-ku, adverbial suffix of -i adjectives)
Usage notes[edit]
This form of adjectives is now restricted to western Japan. In the standard language it is used in super-polite language before ございます (gozaimasu) and 存じます (zonjimasu), and also in fossilized words like 全うする (mattōsuru).
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