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Definition 2024
仕える
仕える
Japanese
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 仕 |
| Grade: 3 |
Verb
仕える (intransitive, ichidan conjugation, hiragana つかえる, romaji tsukaeru, historical hiragana つかへる)
- to serve, serve under, take service under
- 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
- 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。
- Kono sūnenkan, chichihaha ni tsukaeteiru.
- 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: serve God
- 主人に仕える: serve a master, serve an employer faithfully
- 二君に仕える (nikun ni tsukaeru): serve two masters
Idioms
- すまじきものは宮仕え (sumajiki mono wa miyazukae): it is better to work for oneself than to work for someone else
Alternative forms
- (rare) 事える (tsukaeru)
Synonyms
- (serve, serve under): 奉仕する (hōshi suru); 奉仕する (bushi suru)
- (enter public service): 仕官する (shikan suru)
Derived terms
Derived terms
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