For example: nomi-komu 飲み込む, "to gulp down," mochi-dasu 持ち出す, "to take out," bukkorosu ぶっ殺す, "to beat to death," hiki-komoru 引きこもる, "to shut in," and mezameru 目覚める, "to wake up," kawai-sugiru 可愛すぎる, "to be too cute," are all compound verbs.
List
There are way too many compound verbs to list all of them at once. Instead, I'll list some of the common auxiliary verbs found in compound verbs:- ~dasu
～出す
To move something out of somewhere.
To start doing something.- tobi-dasu
飛び出す
To jump out. - omoi-dasu
思い出す
To recall. To remember. (because you're taking memories out of your memory.) - hashiri-dasu
走り出す
To start running.
- tobi-dasu
- ~komu
～込む
To put into a container, to shove into, to cram into.- tobi-komu
飛び込む
To jump in. To dive in. (a hole, for example.) - omoi-komu
思い込む
To assume something to be true. To get in your head that something is true. - fumi-komu
踏み込む
To step into.
- tobi-komu
- ~mawaru
～回る
To go around doing something.- aruki-mawaru
歩き回る
To walk around. (the city, for example.) - sagashi-mawaru
探し回る
To search around. (the city, again.)
- aruki-mawaru
- ~toru
～取る
To take. Used when you acquire something by doing an action.- uke-toru
受け取る
To receive. (a package.) - yomi-toru
読み取る
To read and understand what it's written. (here, "to take" would be like "to get" what it means.) - kiki-torenai
聞き取れない
To not be able to hear-and-take. To not be able to figure out what someone is saying. - sui-toru
吸い取る
To suck out. (e.g. a vampire sucking out blood.) - shibori-toru
搾り取る
To squeeze out. - ne-tori
寝取り
The act of sleeping with someone else's lover.
- uke-toru
- ~nokosu
～残す
To leave remaining.- tabe-nokosu
食べ残す
To eat something partially. To leave leftovers. - nanika ii-nokoshitai koto wa aru ka?
何か言い残したいことはあるか？
Is there something that [you] want to leave said?
Any last words? (before I kill you?)
- tabe-nokosu
- ~kaesu
～返す
To return.- ii-kaesu
言い返す
To say back. - tori-kaesu
取り返す
To take back. - tori-kaeshi no tsukanai koto wo shite-shimatta
取り返しのつかないことをしてしまった
[I] did something that can't be taken back.
[I] did something that can't be undone.
- ii-kaesu
- ~hajimeru
～始める
To start doing something.- yomi-hajimeta
読み始めた
To start reading.
- yomi-hajimeta
- ~kakeru
～掛ける
To start doing something, and be partly doing it, but not finished doing it.
To do something to someone.- ii-kakeru
言い掛ける
To say something, but stop half-way. - shini-kakeru
死にかける
To be about to die. - yobi-kakeru
呼びかける
To call [someone]. (as in: hey! Come here! Oy!!!) - hanashi-kakenaide
話しかけないで
Don't talk [to me].
- ii-kakeru
- ~tsudukeru
～続ける
To keep doing something without stopping, continuously.- benkyou shi-tsudukeru
勉強し続ける
To keep studying. To study continuously. - sakebi-tsudukeru
叫び続ける
To keep screaming. To scream continuously.
- benkyou shi-tsudukeru
- ~owaru
～終わる
To finish doing something.- yomi-owatta
読み終わった
To finish reading.
- yomi-owatta
- ~kiru
～切る
To do something completely.- tabe-kiru
食べ切る
To eat completely. - tsukare-kiru
疲れ切る
To tire completely. To become completely tired.
- tabe-kiru
- ~sugiru
～過ぎる
To do something too much.- tabe-sugiru
食べ過ぎる
To eat too much. - asobi-sugiru
遊び過ぎる
To play too much. - hanashi-sugiru
話し過ぎる
To talk too much.
- tabe-sugiru
- ~naosu
～治す
To do over. To do again, because the first time you did it wrong.- tsukuri-naosu
作り直す
To rebuild. - kangae-naosu
考え直す
To rethink. - ii-naosu
言い直す
To say again, this time properly. To correct oneself.
- tsukuri-naosu
- ~nasai
～なさい
To do. (imperative.)- kotae-nasai
答えなさい
Answer [me].
- kotae-nasai
- bu'~
ぶっ～
To do with force.- buttobasu
ぶっ飛ばす
To hit something so hard you make it fly. To punch someone so hard you know them out of the ground. - bukkakeru
ぶっ掛ける
To pour something so hard it splashes.
- buttobasu
Grammar
The term fukugou-doushi 複合動詞 refers to literally any word that's a compound, that's composed of multiple words, and which is a verb, because the head of the compound is a verb.Incidentally, if the head was an adjective, the term would be fukugou-keiyoushi 複合形容詞, "compound adjective," instead.
A consequence of this simplistic definition is that not all compound verbs are the same. In particular, they differ according to their stem: some compound verbs have a verb for stem, others have nouns, adjectives, or even adverbs.(張威, 2009:126)
- oi-tsuku
追いつく
To chase and attach to. (literally.)
To catch up with.- Verb plus verb.
- kizu-tsuku
傷つく
To injury-attach to. (literally.)
To get injured.- Noun plus verb.
- chika-yoru
近寄る
To approach.- Adjective plus verb.
- bura-sagaru
ぶら下がる
To dangle.- Adverb plus verb.
Despite this plurality of compound verb types, an overwhelming majority of them—really, around 90%—are verb plus verb.(張威, 2009:128)
Pronunciation
Like any other suffix, the suffixed verb of compound verbs can be affected by changes in pronunciation. For example:- kiru
着る
To wear. - kaeru
替える
To replace. - ki-gaeru
着替える
To change clothes.- Here, ki き changed to gi ぎ due to rendaku 連濁.
- kaku
掻く
To scratch. - harau
払う
To pay.
To wipe away. - kapparau
掻っ払う
To steal. To snatch.- Here, kaki-ha かきは became kappa かっぱ due to sokuonbin 促音便.
Verb + Verb
In compound verbs formed by a verb stem and a verb suffix, the stem is conjugated its ren'youkei 連用形 noun form. For example:- kaku
書く
To write. - kaki
書き
Writing. Written. - kaki-nokosu
書き残す
To leave [something] written [somewhere].
- tsuki-au
付き合う
To hang with. To do an activity with.
To date with. - kuri-kaesu
繰り返す
To repeat. To do the same thing again.
Note that this form ends in ~i for godan verbs, but for ichidan verbs the ~ru is removed instead.
- kiru
切る
To cut.- A godan verb.
- kiri-komu
切り込む
To cut deep into. (the blade gets shoved deep into the target.)
- kiru
着る
To wear.- An ichidan verb.
- ki-komu
着込む
To wear extra clothes. (you get shoved inside extra layers of clothing.)
The stem verb in a compound verb must be in noun form, which is a ren'youkei 連用形 form. However, that doesn't mean it must be the ren'youkei of its plain form. It's possible to conjugate the stem verb to passive or causative, before affixing the suffix verb:
- tabe-tsudukeru
食べ続ける
To keep eating. - taberare-tsudukeru
食べられ続ける
To keep being eaten. - tabesase-tsudukeru
食べさせ続ける
To keep forcing [someone] to eat [something]. - tabesaserare-tsudukeru
食べさせられ続ける
To keep being forced to eat [something] by [someone].
The head verb can be conjugated, too.
Manga: Gabriel DropOut, ガヴリールドロップアウト (Chapter 5)
- Context: Vignette learns the harsh realities of doing group projects.
- anta-ra ii-kagen ni shinasai yo'!!
アンタらいい加減にしなさいよっ！！
You [two], stop it already!! - mendou mi-kirenai tte!!
面倒見きれないって！！
I can't take care of all the trouble you make!!- mendou
面倒
Trouble. - mendou wo miru
面倒を見る
To see trouble.
To take care of trouble.
To take care of someone, which is trouble, in the sense of it may cause trouble to you to do it. - mendou wo mi-kiru
面倒を見きる
To completely take care. - mendou wo mi-kireru
面倒を見きれる
To be able to completely take care.
(potential form.) - mendou wo mi-kirenai
面倒を見きれない
To not be able to completely take care.
(negative potential form.) - Vignette can't handle all this trouble.
- mendou
Some verbs, due to changes in pronunciation, end up not really being in the ren'youkei form.
- oi-kakaeru
追いかける
To chase someone. - okkakeru
追っかける
(same meaning.)
Deep Compounds
Syntactically, a compound verb is a verb. And a compound verb can be composed of two verbs. That means you can compose a compound verb out of a compound verb and another verb.- hiki-ageru
引き上げる
To pull up. - hiki-age-nobasu
引き上げ伸ばす
To stretch by pulling up. - hiki-age-nobashi-tsudukeru
引き上げ伸ばし続ける
To keep stretching by pulling up.
Neology
In general, compound verbs are well-established words that you can find in dictionaries. That is, you don't normally just grab a random verb and attach it to another verb to make a compound.That said, it's totally possible to take an auxiliary verb and attach it to a random word. For example, the auxiliary verb ~hajimeru ～始める pretty obviously means "to start doing something," no matter what you attach it on.
- guguru
ググる
To google. To search on google. (a neologism.) - iroiro guguri-hajimeta
色々ググり始めた
To have started googling various things.
Semantic Bleaching
Some verbs are said to become semantically bleached when they're used as the auxiliary verb of a compound verb. That is, their meaning as an auxiliary is completely different from their meaning as a normal verb.For example, kiru 切る means "to cut." It has nothing to do with ~kiru ～切る, "to do completely."
Except that kiri ga nai 切りがない means "having no end," "going on forever," "impossible to finish no mater how long you keep doing it," and so on.
Therefore, I'm not really such they've lost their original meanings when used as auxiliaries, or they just had multiple meanings to begin with.
Polysemy
Some verbs have multiple meanings, and, consequently, when they're used in compound verbs, the compound verb ends up having multiple meanings, too.For example, oriru 降りる means "to fall," but it can also mean "to get out of a vehicle." Consequently, tobi-oriru 飛び降りる can mean either "to jump from a high place and fall," or "to jump out of a vehicle."
Auxiliary Verb
The auxiliary verb of a compound verb is often, but not always, the suffix verb. Consequently, the main verb is often, but not always, the stem verb.Basically, the main verb is the verb that expresses the main action of the compound. Observe:
- uchi-kaesu
撃ち返す
To shoot back. - uchi-korosu
撃ち殺す
To kill by shooting.
In the first example, the main verb is the stem, but in the second verb, the main verb is the suffix, and the stem is an auxiliary.
This happens because there are three different classes of auxiliary verbs:(Niimi et al., 1987, as cited in Uchiyama et al., 2005:6)
- The aspectual class.
Whether the action has begun, finished, is continuing, and so on.
For example, ~hajimeru ～始める. - The spatial class.
Toward what direction the action is going.
For example, ~ageru ～上げる. - The adverbial class.
How the action is performed.
For example, ~sugiru ～過ぎる.
Among the classes above, aspect and space are easily distinguishable. The verbs to start, to finish, etc. are aspect. The verbs to rise, to drop, to take out, to put in, etc. are spatial.
The problem is the adverbial class.
In general, if a verb has been semantically bleached, it's used as an adverbial auxiliary. For example, mawaru 回る originally means "to turn around," "to roll." Going "around" is a more adverbial usage of it.
Sometimes, compound verbs are composed of a stem that describes the process, and a suffix that describes the change or outcome of the process. In such cases, the verb describing the process is working adverbially, and therefore is the auxiliary.
Observe the examples below:
- hiku
引く
To pull. - hiki-dasu
引き出す
To pull out. - hiki-ageru
引き上げる
To pull up. - hiki-nobasu
引き伸ばす
To stretch by pulling. - hiki-saku
引き裂く
To tear apart by pulling.
The stem verb is hiku 引く in all examples, but in the last two examples, hiku 引く works adverbially, and the main verb is the suffix instead.
In such cases, it's possible to replace the stem verb by its te-form.
- hiite nobasu
引いて伸ばす
To pull [it], subsequently stretching [it]. - hiite saku
引いて裂く
To pull [it], subsequently tearing [it].
This is even more obvious in verbs like this:
- tsukatte suteru
使って捨てる
To use and to throw away. - tsukai-suteru
使い捨てる
To throw something away after using it.
Note that this principle governs the correct order of the verbs in a compound. Observe:
- uchi-korosu
撃ち殺す
To shoot someone, then killing them.
To kill someone by shooting them. - koroshi-utsu
殺し撃つ
To kill someone, then shooting them.
To shoot someone by killing them.- This doesn't make any sense.
- It literally means you kill somebody first, and then you shoot their corpse. Why would you do that? What's the point of such savagery?
The spatial class of auxiliaries works the same way logically, but ends up being classified the opposite way.
For example, the verb ageru 上げる means "to raise" something. Therefore, we can interpret hiki-ageru 引き上げる as "to raise something by pulling it," which would make hiki the auxiliary.
Similarly, hiki-sageru 引き下げる, "to lower something by pulling it," or "to pull something down."
So which one is it? Is the verb hiku the auxiliary, or is it sageru?
In such cases, ageru 上げる and sageru 下げる are the auxiliaries. This happens because the spatial auxiliaries may appear to be verbs expressing an actual action of moving things, but, upon closer inspection, they're only there to describe what's the final direction of the action.
We know this because spatial auxiliaries can be suffixed to verbs that don't mean physical actions. For example:
- naru
成る
To become. - nari-agaru
成り上がる
To become something greater. To rise in rank.- For example, to become rich, to become a company president, to become a king, and so on.
- nari-sagaru
成り下がる
To become something lesser. To drop in rank.- This is a way more common word in anime than nari-agaru. Basically every time you have a character who's a noble, or king, or anyone in a high social position, who ends up losing such status because of whatever shenanigans, this word applies.
- For example, a teacher ending up becoming a student's summoned beast. A princess ended up becoming a maid. One of the demon lord's generals being reduced to a NEET who does nothing but eat and play games on the internet every day.
None of the compound verbs above can be interpreted as "to raise or lower by becoming," agaru 上がる and sagaru 下がる are auxiliaries that merely describe the direction, they don't actually mean the action of moving something.
By the way, there are terms to classify auxiliary verbs according to their position.[複合動詞の成立条件 - osaka-kyoiku.ac.jp/~kokugo, accessed in 2019-07-17]
- zenkou-doushi
前項動詞
The auxiliary comes before the main verb. - koukou-doushi
後項動詞
The auxiliary comes after the main verb. - ryoukou-doushi
両項動詞
The auxiliary can come either before or after the main verb.
Transitivity
Compound verbs are affected by the transitivity of the verbal head. In particular, some verbs feature ergative verb pairs, and which verb is used depends on the transitivity of the stem verb.For example deru 出る, "to go out," has the lexical causative counterpart dasu 出す, "to put out."
- tsuku
突く
To thrust. - shita wo tsuki-dasu
舌を突き出す
To stick out [your] tongue. - atama kara tsuno ga tsuki-deru
頭から角が突き出る
Horns stick out from [his] head.
Above, the ergative verb pair deru and dasu form an ergative verb pair of compound verbs: tsuki-deru and tsuki-dasu. The verb tsuki-deru is intransitive, so what "sticks out" is marked as the subject, while tsuki-dasu is transitive, so what "is caused to stick out" is marked as the object.
Unfortunately, it's more complicated than that.
For example, dasu 出す as an auxiliary verb can also mean "to start doing [something]." Consequently, sometimes a compound verb has a deru and a dasu variant, but they don't form an ergative pair. Observe:
- mizu ga nagare-deru
水が流れ出る
Water flows out. - mizu ga nagare-dasu
水が流れ出す
Water begins to flow.
The reason it doesn't work as you'd expect is because nagareru 流れる, "to flow," is intransitive and forms an ergative verb pair with nagasu 流す, "to make flow," "to flush." Consequently, the correct transitive combination would be this:
- mizu wo nagashi-dasu
水を流し出す
To flush out water.
Some verbs aren't part of ergative pairs. For example, the verb kiru 切る, "to cut," is transitive, and has no intransitive counterpart.
- kiri-otosu
切り落とす
To cut [something] off, causing it to fall, because of gravity.
The verb otosu 落とす, "to cause to fall," "to drop," forms an ergative verb pair with the intransitive verb ochiru 落ちる, "to fall." Since kiru 切る is transitive, we can use otosu 落とす with it, but not ochiru 落ちる.
- *kiri-ochiru
切り落ちる
(you can't say this, because kiru is transitive, while ochiru is intransitive.)
It's technically possible to attach ochiru to kiru in its passive form:
- kirare-ochiru
切られ落ちる
To be cut, and then fall.
However, it's more normal to just use the passive form of the compound verb instead:
- kiri-otosareru
切り落とされる
To be cut and dropped.
A common ergative pair to watch out for is agaru 上がる, "to rise," and ageru 上げる, "to raise."
- yuusha wa mou ichido tachi-agaru
勇者はもう一度立ち上がる
The hero shall stand up one more time. - iwa wo mochi-ageru
岩を持ち上げる
To grab-up a boulder.
To lift a boulder.
English has more ergative verbs than ergative verb pairs, consequently, you can end up with an intransitive compound verb and a transitive compound verb that translate to literally the same thing in English. For example:
- yaku
焼く
To burn [something]. (transitive.) - yaki-korosu
焼き殺す
To kill by burning.
To burn to death. (transitive.) - yakeru
焼ける
To burn. (intransitive.) - yake-shinu
焼け死ぬ
To die by burning.
To burn to death. (intransitive.)
Noun + Verb
Some compound verbs are composed of a noun plus a verb instead.- tabi-datsu
旅立つ
To go on a journey. - se-ou
背負う
To bear. (a responsibility.) - te-watasu
手渡す
To hand over. To surrender.
In some cases, it's possible to start with a properly marked sentence, then replace the particles with nothing (see: null particle), and then turn that into a compound verb. For example:
- na wo tsukeru
名をつける
To attach a name.
To name. - na-dzukeru
名付ける
To name [someone]. To give a name. (like to a pet.)
However, most of the time this doesn't really work. For example:
- na-noru
名乗る
To name [oneself]. To state your own name. To claim to be a certain person. - na wo noru
名を乗る
To embark a name. (literally.)
To take over a name. To claim a name. To claim to be a certain person.
Although the above should mean the same thing, the properly marked phrase isn't really used, only the compound verb na-noru is used.
Adjective Plus Noun
Sometimes, the stem of a compound verb is an i-adjective. When this happens, the steam of the i-adjective is used, that is, without the ~i ～い suffix.- chikai
近い
Near. - chika-dzuku
近づく
To approach.
- nagai
長い
Long. - naga-biku
長引く
To be prolonged.
There are few compound verbs that follow this pattern. Most of the time, it's going to be the verb sugiru 過ぎる that will be attached to the adjective.
- oo-sugiru
多すぎる
Too many. - taka-sugiru
高すぎる
Too high.
Too expensive. - tsuyo-sugiru
強すぎる
Too strong.
Adverb Plus Verb
In extremely few cases, the stem of the compound verb is an adverb.- bura-sageru
ぶら下げる
To dangle. - bata-tsuku
バタつく
To move around without calming down.
Both the adverbs above happen to be mimetic words, and can be reduplicated: burabura ぶらぶら, *dangling,* *swaying to and from,* batabata バタバタ, *flapping.*
Nominalization
There are many words made out of conjugating compound verbs to their noun forms.For example, some names of foods are nominalized compound verbs with the head yaku 焼く, "to heat," "to burn," "to roast," "to grill," "to bake," etc.
- okonomi-yaki
お好み焼き
A pancake with various ingredients.- okonomi
お好み
Your preference. Your liking. - o お
Honorific prefix. - konomu
好む
To like something. To prefer something.
- okonomi
- tamago-yaki
卵焼き
A rolled omelet.- tamago
卵
Egg.
- tamago
- suki-yaki
すき焼き
A dish with thinly sliced pieces of meat.- suki
鋤
Spade. - Origin: in the past, farmers used to use the spade of farming tools as a cooking utensil, hence the name.[すき焼き - iroha-japan.net, accessed 2019-10-30.]
- suki
- medama-yaki
目玉焼き
Fried egg, sunny side up.- medama
目玉
Eyeball.
The yolk of a fried egg. (from its shape.)
- medama
- tai-yaki
たいやき
A fish-shaped pancake.
It's also seen in names of games, like:
- ishi-keri
石蹴り
Stone-kicking.
A game like hopscotch, but you kick the stone instead of throwing it with your hand. - shiri-tori
尻取り
Butt-taking.
A word game where someone says a word, and the next person has to say a word that starts with the same kana 仮名 as the previous word ends with. Repeating words or saying a word that ends in n ん makes you lose.- shi-ri-to-ri
しりとり
(game start.) - ringo
林檎
Apple. - gohan
ご飯
Food. Meal. Rice.
(game ends.)
- shi-ri-to-ri
Other Suffixes
There are some suffixes that look like they form fukugou-doushi 複合動詞, "compound verbs," but in reality they don't.- kaki-yasui
書きやすい
Easy to write.- Here, yasui forms a compound adjective, fukugou-keiyoushi 複合形容詞, instead.
- kaki-tai
書きたい
[I] want to write.- Here, ~tai ～たい is a jodoushi 助動詞 instead because ~tai doesn't mean anything on its own..
- kaki-yagaru
書きやがる
[He] has the nerve to write [it].- Here, ~yagaru ～やがる is a jodoushi 助動詞, too, because it doesn't mean anything on its own, even though its origin would be the verb agaru 上がる..
- kaite-ageru
書いてあげる
[I] will write [it] for [you].- Here, ~ageru ～あげる is a hojo-doushi 補助動詞, "support verb," instead, because it goes after the te-form of the verb kaku 書く, which is kaite 書いて, not the noun form, kaki 書き.
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