調べる

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Japanese

Kanji in this term
調
しら
Grade: 3
kun'yomi

Etymology

The seemingly unrelated senses "to investigate" and "to play an instrument" are probably a semantic loan from Middle Chinese 調 (MC dewH) via kanbun kundoku.

Pronunciation

  • Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of 「調べる」
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止形)
Attributive (連体形) 		調べる しらべる
Imperative (命令形) 調べろ しらべろ
Key constructions
Passive 調べられる しらべられる
Causative 調べさせる しらべさせる
Potential 調べられる しらべられる
Volitional 調べよう しらべよー
Negative 調べない しらべない
Negative perfective 調べなかった しらべなかった
Formal 調べます しらべます
Perfective 調べた しらべた
Conjunctive 調べて しらべて
Hypothetical conditional 調べれば しらべれば

Verb

調(しら)べる • (shiraberu) transitive ichidan (stem 調(しら)べ (shirabe), past 調(しら)べた (shirabeta))

  1. to investigate, to look up, to look into, to study, to examine, to check up on, to look over
    インターネットで調(しら)べる
    intānetto de shiraberu
    to investigate using the internet
    犯(はん)人(にん)を調(しら)べる
    hannin o shiraberu
    to inquest the criminal
    辞(じ)書(しょ)で調(しら)べる
    jisho de shiraberu
    to look up in a dictionary
  2. (music) to play, to perform (an instrument)
  3. (music) to tune

Conjugation

Conjugation of "調べる" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective") 調べ しらべ shirabe
Ren’yōkei ("continuative") 調べ しらべ shirabe
Shūshikei ("terminal") 調べる しらべる shiraberu
Rentaikei ("attributive") 調べる しらべる shiraberu
Kateikei ("hypothetical") 調べれ しらべれ shirabere
Meireikei ("imperative") 調べよ¹
調べろ² 		しらべよ¹
しらべろ² 		shirabeyo¹
shirabero²
Key constructions
Passive 調べられる しらべられる shiraberareru
Causative 調べさせる
調べさす 		しらべさせる
しらべさす 		shirabesaseru
shirabesasu
Potential 調べられる
調べれる³ 		しらべられる
しらべれる³ 		shiraberareru
shirabereru³
Volitional 調べよう しらべよう shirabeyō
Negative 調べない
調べぬ
調べん 		しらべない
しらべぬ
しらべん 		shirabenai
shirabenu
shiraben
Negative continuative 調べず しらべず shirabezu
Formal 調べます しらべます shirabemasu
Perfective 調べた しらべた shirabeta
Conjunctive 調べて しらべて shirabete
Hypothetical conditional 調べれば しらべれば shirabereba
¹ Written imperative
² Spoken imperative
³ Colloquial potential
Classical conjugation of "調ぶ" (バ行下二段活用, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
Stem forms
Irrealis (未然形) 調べ しらべ sirabe
Continuative (連用形) 調べ しらべ sirabe
Terminal (終止形) 調ぶ しらぶ sirabu
Attributive (連体形) 調ぶる しらぶる siraburu
Realis (已然形) 調ぶれ しらぶれ sirabure
Imperative (命令形) 調べよ しらべよ sirabeyo
Key constructions
Negative 調べず しらべず sirabezu
Contrasting conjunction 調ぶれど しらぶれど siraburedo
Causal conjunction 調ぶれば しらぶれば sirabureba
Conditional conjunction 調べば しらべば sirabeba
Past tense (firsthand knowledge) 調べき しらべき sirabeki
Past tense (secondhand knowledge) 調べけり しらべけり sirabekeri
Perfect tense (conscious action) 調べつ しらべつ sirabetu
Perfect tense (natural event) 調べぬ しらべぬ sirabenu
Perfect-continuative tense 調べたり しらべたり sirabetari
Volitional 調べむ しらべむ sirabemu

References

  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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