Meaning

Primary

Tale

Alternatives

Story, Legend

Word Type

noun, verbal noun, の adjective

Explanation

A language about things. This is a confusing one. Just think of it more like someone talking about things, anything, really. Someone who just talks about things is someone who tells stories. So, this word means tale or story or legend (not the Tom Cruise one, though).

Reading

ものがたり
  • Kyoko
    (Tokyo accent, female)
  • Kenichi
    (Tokyo accent, male)

Explanation

Both kanji take the kun'yomi here. For , that's もの, which you learned with the vocabulary . You learned the kun'yomi for with the verb 語る, but here it becomes がたり because of rendaku, and the is tucked inside the kanji.

Maybe you've already heard the word ものがたり too. It's in some film and book names. If you haven't, and you find this reading hard to remember, think of a story about an infamous Gatling (がたり) gun that wandered the land, mowing everything down in its path. It's a terrible legend, but what if it were true???

Context

Common Word Combinations

  • 物語の主人公

    main character of a story

    物語のストーリー

    plot of a story

    物語の世界

    fictional world

Context Sentences

この物語はとても長いですよ。

This tale is very long.

アンデルセン物語を読んであげましょう。

I'll read the Andersen story for you.

妖怪にまつわる物語は、日本各地にたくさんあります。

There are many stories about yokai in various parts of Japan.

Kanji Composition