調べる To Investigate

Meaning

Primary

To Investigate

Alternatives

To Examine, To Research, To Look Into

Word Type

transitive verb, ichidan verb

Explanation

This word consists of kanji with hiragana attached. Because the hiragana ends with an う sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means investigate so the vocab verb version means to investigate.

Reading

しらべる

Explanation

Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You didn't learn that reading with this kanji, so here's a mnemonic to help you:

You are hired to investigate someone's wife. It is said that she loves (しら) another man... but you need to investigate her to find out if that's true, for her husband of course.

Context

Common Word Combinations

• 〜を調べる

  カレーの事を調べる

  to research curry

  それを調べる

  to research that

  番号を調べる

  to look up the number

• 〜で調べる

  本で調べる

  to look up in a book

  ネットで調べる

  to research on the Internet

  自分で調べる

  to do one's own research

Context Sentences

毎朝、妹がいるドイツの天気を調べるのが私のルーティンです。

It is my routine to check the weather in Germany, where my younger sister is, every morning.

自分で調べる気がないなら、早くアレクサに聞いてください。

If you are not willing to look it up yourself, ask Alexa now.

アメリカ人の天才科学者が、鳥のフンを調べるために日本に来ました。

An American genius scientist came to Japan to examine bird dung.

カピバラが食べられるのかどうか、ちょっと調べてくれない？

Can you research capybaras and see if they are edible?

Kanji Composition

1. 調

   ちょう Investigate