To Be Caught
To Be Arrested
intransitive verb, godan verb
Because the hiragana ends with an う sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means catch, so this intransitive verb version is to be caught.
This is often a literal, physical catch, but 捕まる can also be used when someone's been gotten ahold of in a figurative way, like when you've finally managed to contact them.
The reading is つか, so to remember that with to be caught, think about how you're a police officer chasing some criminals. Unfortunately, they split up into two cars (つか), meaning they can't both be caught. Guess you should have called for backup...
警察に捕まる
to be arrested by the police
軍に捕まる
to be captured by the military
敵に捕まる
to be captured by the enemy
人に捕まる
to be caught by someone
飲酒運転で捕まる
to be arrested for drunk driving
万引きで捕まる
to be arrested for shoplifting
日本で捕まる
to be arrested in Japan
うちの会社のアルバイトが人をなぐって捕まってしまったんだ。
A part-time worker at my company got arrested for punching a person.
アシュリーに何度も電話をかけているんだけど、なかなか捕まらないんだよね。
I've called Ashley over and over, but I'm not having any luck reaching her.
最初スピード違反で止められたんだけど、その後飲酒運転で捕まっちゃったんだよ。
At first I was just stopped for speeding, but I ended up being caught for drunk driving.
すごくおしゃべりな友達に捕まって、帰るのが深夜になってしまった。
I got held up by a very talkative friend and didn't make it home until late at night.