考える

Japanese

Kanji in this term
考
かんが Grade: 2
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
勘える (less common)

Etymology

*/kamukapu/ → /kamuɡapu/ → /kanɡafu/ → /kanɡaferu/ (regular change for lower bigrade verbs) → */kangaweru/ (semi-regular sound shift for the /f/ phoneme; see ハ行(ぎょう)転(てん)呼(こ) (ha-gyō tenko)) → /kanɡajeru/ (semi-regular sound shift, collapsing /we/ into /je/) → /kanɡaeru/

From Old Japanese. First cited to the Nihon Shoki of 720.

Ultimate derivation uncertain. Theories include:

• Given the ancient kamugapu spelling, may be ka + mukau, where the ka is an unidentified prefixing element, or possibly 処(か) (ka), cognate with the こ (ko) in location determiners like ここ (here) and どこ (where), and the mukau is 向(む)かう (mukau, “to face something, to face a direction”, pronounced as mukapu in ancient times), from the sense of facing a thing or issue to thoroughly inspect it and think it over. The shift from mukapu to mugapu may be an example of assimilation and lenition, where the preceding /m/ softens the following /k/.
• Alternatively, may be derived from the on'yomi of kan for the character 勘(かん) (kan, “intuition, perception”, prior to the development of the kana ん, this was spelled as kamu), plus some unknown element that was probably originally kapu, changing to gapu due to rendaku. The semantically relevant verbs with ancient readings of kapu, such as 変(か)える (kaeru, “to change”) all have to do with ideas of changing or turning, suggesting a possible original meaning of to change one's perception.
  In addition, there are also obsolete readings of かうがふ (kaugafu, /m/ elided; compare the change of suffix む (-mu) to う (-u) or the usage of 柑(かん) (kan) in 柑(こう)子(じ) (kōji)), and かがふ (kagafu, /mu/ elided completely, as in man'yōgana or nanori usage of kanji like 安), giving further support for this etymology.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) かんがえる [kàńgáéꜜrù] (Nakadaka – [4])
• (Tokyo) かんがえる [kàńgáꜜèrù] (Nakadaka – [3])
• IPA^(key): [kã̠ŋɡa̠e̞ɾɯ̟]

• Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of 考える

Plain	考える	かんがえる かんがえる	[kàńgáéꜜrù] [kàńgáꜜèrù]
Conjunctive	考えて	かんがえて	[kàńgáꜜètè]
Perfective	考えた	かんがえた	[kàńgáꜜètà]
Negative	考えない	かんがえない	[kàńgáéꜜnàì]
Negative perfective	考えなかった	かんがえなかった	[kàńgáéꜜnàkàttà]
Hypothetical conditional	考えれば	かんがえれば かんがえれば	[kàńgáéꜜrèbà] [kàńgáꜜèrèbà]
Past conditional	考えたら	かんがえたら	[kàńgáꜜètàrà]
Imperative	考えろ 考えよ	かんがえろ かんがえろ かんがえよ かんがえよ	[kàńgáéꜜrò] [kàńgáꜜèrò] [kàńgáéꜜyò] [kàńgáꜜèyò]
Volitional	考えよう	かんがえよー	[kàńgáéyóꜜò]
Desiderative	考えたい	かんがえたい	[kàńgáétáꜜì]
Formal	考えます	かんがえます	[kàńgáémáꜜsù]
Formal negative	考えません	かんがえません	[kàńgáémáséꜜǹ]
Formal volitional	考えましょう	かんがえましょー	[kàńgáémáshóꜜò]
Formal perfective	考えました	かんがえました	[kàńgáémáꜜshìtà]
Continuative	考え 考えに	かんがえ かんがえに	[kàńgáꜜè] [kàńgáꜜè nì]
Negative continuative	考えず 考えずに	かんがえず かんがえずに	[kàńgáéꜜzù] [kàńgáéꜜzù nì]
Passive	考えられる	かんがえられる	[kàńgáéráréꜜrù]
Causative	考えさせる 考えさす	かんがえさせる かんがえさす	[kàńgáésáséꜜrù] [kàńgáésáꜜsù]
Potential	考えられる 考えれる	かんがえられる かんがえれる	[kàńgáéráréꜜrù] [kàńgáéréꜜrù]

Verb

考(かんが)える • (kangaeru) ^{←かんがへる (kangaferu)?}transitive ichidan (stem 考(かんが)え (kangae), past 考(かんが)えた (kangaeta))

1. to think

   これについて考(かんが)える必(ひつ)要(よう)があるんだ。

   Kore ni tsuite kangaeru hitsuyō ga aru nda.

   I need to think about this.

2. to meditate
3. to consider

   ここに住(す)む人(ひと)のことも考(かんが)えて、引(ひ)っ越(こ)しの時(とき)は綺(き)麗(れい)に掃(そう)除(じ)をする。

   Koko ni sumu hito no koto mo kangaete, hikkoshi no toki wa kirei ni sōji o suru.

   Out of consideration for the people who will live here next, I will clean thoroughly when I move.

4. to reflect

   私(わたし)がしたことについて考(かんが)えなければならない。

   Watashi ga shita koto ni tsuite kangaenakereba naranai.

   I must reflect on what I have done.

5. to prepare

   停(てい)電(でん)の時(とき)のことも考(かんが)えてある。

   Teiden no toki no koto mo kangaete aru.

   I am prepared for electric power failures.

6. to make up one's mind
7. to expect

   考(かんが)えられないような失(しっ)敗(ぱい)が起(お)きた。

   Kangaerarenai yō na shippai ga okita.

   A failure that I was unable to expect has happened.

8. to imagine

   死(し)んだ後(あと)のことは誰(だれ)にも考(かんが)えられない。

   Shinda ato no koto wa dare ni mo kangaerarenai.

   It cannot be imagined what will happen after death.

9. to contrive

Usage notes

While both 考(かんが)える (kangaeru) and 思(おも)う (omou) can be used to mean to think, 考(かんが)える (kangaeru) implies more analytic and objective thought, whereas 思(おも)う (omou) may include more emotional and subjective overtones.

Conjugation

Conjugation of "考える" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	考え	かんがえ	kangae
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	考え	かんがえ	kangae
Shūshikei ("terminal")	考える	かんがえる	kangaeru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	考える	かんがえる	kangaeru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	考えれ	かんがえれ	kangaere
Meireikei ("imperative")	考えよ¹ 考えろ²	かんがえよ¹ かんがえろ²	kangaeyo¹ kangaero²
Key constructions
Passive	考えられる	かんがえられる	kangaerareru
Causative	考えさせる 考えさす	かんがえさせる かんがえさす	kangaesaseru kangaesasu
Potential	考えられる 考えれる³	かんがえられる かんがえれる³	kangaerareru kangaereru³
Volitional	考えよう	かんがえよう	kangaeyō
Negative	考えない 考えぬ 考えん	かんがえない かんがえぬ かんがえん	kangaenai kangaenu kangaen
Negative continuative	考えず	かんがえず	kangaezu
Formal	考えます	かんがえます	kangaemasu
Perfective	考えた	かんがえた	kangaeta
Conjunctive	考えて	かんがえて	kangaete
Hypothetical conditional	考えれば	かんがえれば	kangaereba
¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative ³ Colloquial potential

Synonyms

• (to think): 思(おも)う (omou)

Derived terms

• 考(かんが)え (kangae): thought

References

• “考える”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[2] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2025
• 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.

Further reading

• Entry in the Gogen Yurai Jiten ("Etymology Derivation Dictionary", in Japanese)