Meaning

Primary

To Apologize

Word Type

godan verb

Explanation

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

Reading

あやまる
  • Kyoko
    (Tokyo accent, female)
  • Kenichi
    (Tokyo accent, male)

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: When you say you're sorry to apologize, you'd probably start with: "I am (あやま) sorry!"

Context

Patterns of Use

Common Word Combinations

  • 先に謝る

    to apologize first

    必死に謝る

    to apologize desperately

    人に謝る

    to apologize to someone

Context Sentences

自分がしたことじゃないのに謝るつもりはないよ。

I refuse to apologize for something I didn’t do.

コウイチちゃんに今すぐ謝りなさい!

Apologize to Koichi right now!

いや、何でお前が謝るんだよ。謝らなくていいよ。

No, why are you apologizing? You don't need to apologize.

Kanji Composition