To Divide Something
To Separate Something, To Share, To Classify
transitive verb, ichidan verb
This word consists of kanji with hiragana attached. Because the hiragana ends with an う (in this case る) sound, you know this word is a verb. One of the kanji meanings is divide, which makes this to divide something or to separate something. Depending on the context, it can also mean to share or to classify.
Be careful not to confuse this with 分かる, a similar word with a different meaning. Think of it this way: You "separate" what you care (ける) about from everything else. You want to separate those special things you care about from all the other things you don't care about.
Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You already know this reading from 分かる, but here’s a mnemonic in case you forgot:
Whenever you need to divide something, you can’t help screaming "WAAAAAAAAAHHHH" (わ). You hate having to divide things, or people, so you always end up screaming "WAAAAAAAAAHHHH" in agony.
二つに分ける
to divide into two
グループに分ける
to divide into groups
三回に分ける
to divide into three
大きく分ける
to classify broadly
こまかく分ける
to classify in detail, to split precisely
うまく分ける
to divide well
それを分ける
to divide that
人を分ける
to divide people up
これを分ける
to divide this
パスタを二人で分ける。
We split the pasta between two people.
大学用のノートとプライベートのノートを分けよう。
Let's separate university notebooks from your private notebooks.
ピザを半分に分けるなら、大きい方を下さい。
If you split the pizza, could you give me the bigger half?