Mother West Wind "Why" Stories — Page 94

Vocabulary

は

wa — Topic marker particle indicating the subject of sentence.

長い

nagai — Long; describing something of great length.

耳

mimi — Ear; the organ used for hearing.

の

no — Possessive or linking particle connecting nouns.

一方

ippō — One side; meanwhile; on the other hand.

を

wo — Object marker particle indicating the direct object.

もの

mono — Thing; object; used for emphasis or explanation.

に

ni — Direction or location particle; to, at, in.

掻き

kaki — Scratching; the act of scratching something.

ながら

nagara — While doing; simultaneously performing two actions.

答え

kotae — Answer; response to a question or statement.

た

ta — Past tense auxiliary indicating completed action.

ありがとう

arigatō — Thank you; expression of gratitude toward someone.

カエル

kaeru — Frog; a small amphibian that lives near water.

おじいさん

ojīsan — Grandfather; elderly man; respectful term for old man.

これから

korekara — From now on; henceforth; starting from this moment.

自分

jibun — Oneself; referring to one's own self or person.

持っ

mott(e) — Have; hold; possess something in one's hand.

て

te — Conjunctive particle connecting clauses or actions.

いる

iru — To be; to exist; indicates ongoing state or action.

で

de — Particle indicating place, means, or extent.

十分

jūbun — Sufficient; enough; adequately satisfying a requirement.

満足

manzoku — Satisfaction; contentment; feeling pleased with something.

し

shi — Conjunctive form of verb or listing multiple reasons.

持つ

motsu — To hold; to have; to carry or possess something.

べき

beki — Should; ought to; expresses moral obligation or duty.

ない

nai — Not; negative form indicating absence or negation.

欲し

hoshi — Want; desire; wishing to have something.

がる

garu — Suffix showing that someone appears to feel or want.

こと

koto — Thing; fact; nominalizer turning verbs into nouns.

決し

kesshi — Decidedly; never; used in negative expressions firmly.

よう

yō — Volitional auxiliary; let's; intend to do something.

しよう

shiyō — Let's do; volitional form of the verb suru.

と

to — Quotation particle; and; with; used after quoted speech.

思い

omoi — Thought; feeling; emotional sentiment toward something.

ます

masu — Polite verb ending indicating formal, respectful speech.

第

dai — Ordinal prefix meaning 'number' or 'the Nth'.

十四

jūshi — Fourteen; the number fourteen in Japanese counting.

章

shō — Chapter; a numbered section of a book or text.

コウモリ

kōmori — Bat; a nocturnal flying mammal active at night.

が

ga — Subject marker particle emphasizing the grammatical subject.

なぜ

naze — Why; for what reason; questioning the cause of something.

夜

yoru — Night; the period of darkness after sunset.

飛ぶ

tobu — To fly; to jump; to move swiftly through air.

か

ka — Question particle placed at end of a sentence.

挿絵

sashie — Illustration; picture inserted within a book or text.

飛べ

tobe — Can fly; potential or imperative form of tobu.

たら

tara — Conditional particle meaning 'if' or 'when' something occurs.

さぞかし

sazokashi — Surely; I imagine; expressing empathetic strong supposition.

素晴らしい

subarashii — Wonderful; magnificent; describing something impressively great.

だろう

darō — Probably; I suppose; expresses conjecture or assumption.

思っ

omott(e) — Thought; conjunctive form of the verb omou.

目まい

memai — Dizziness; vertigo; sensation of spinning or light-headedness.

さ

sa — Nominal suffix or exclamatory particle softening a statement.

せ

se — Causative verb suffix meaning to make or let someone.

見

mi — See; look; stem of the verb miru meaning to watch.

ず

zu — Negative verb suffix meaning without doing something.

い

i — Continuative form of iru; to be or exist.

られ

rare — Passive or potential auxiliary verb suffix in Japanese.

なかっ

nakatt(a) — Was not; past tense negative form of nai.

どうしても

dōshitemo — No matter what; inevitably; cannot help but do.

しまう

shimau — To end up doing; completing an action, often regrettably.

だっ

datt(a) — Was; past tense copula form of da, meaning 'was'.

本当に

hontō ni — Truly; really; used to emphasize sincerity or truth.

飛べる

toberu — Can fly; potential form of the verb tobu.

という

to iu — Called; known as; quoting or defining something specifically.

とても

totemo — Very; extremely; intensifier used before adjectives or adverbs.

不思議

fushigi — Mysterious; strange; something wonderfully hard to explain.

思わ

omowa — Think; negative or passive stem of verb omou.

れ

re — Passive auxiliary suffix indicating an action done to subject.

見かける

mikakeru — To happen to see; to catch sight of someone.

たび

tabi — Each time; whenever; every occasion something occurs.

立ち止まっ

tachitomatt(e) — Stopped; came to a standstill; ceased walking or moving.

見守ら

mimamora — Watch over; observe carefully; keep an eye on something.

そして

soshite — And then; and; connecting two events or sentences.

くるくる

kurukuru — Spinning round and round; rotating in a circular motion.

身

mi — Body; one's physical self or person.

ひねり

hineri — Twist; a spinning or twisting movement of the body.

高く

takaku — High; highly; adverbial form of the adjective takai.

飛ん

ton(de) — Flying; conjunctive form of verb tobu meaning to fly.

だり

dari — And; listing alternating actions using the tari form.

低く

hikuku — Low; lowly; adverbial form of the adjective hikui.

ぐるぐる

guruguru — Going around and around; spinning continuously in circles.

旋回

senkai — Circling; wheeling around; rotating in a wide arc.

する

suru — To do; general-purpose verb performing an action.

頭

atama — Head; the top part of a person's body.

くらくら

kurakura — Feeling dizzy; lightheaded; spinning sensation in the head.

き

ki — Come; stem of kuru or conjunctive form of verb.

自身

jishin — Oneself; one's own self; used for emphasis of identity.

なら

nara — If; conditional particle used to express a hypothesis.

もし

moshi — If; used at start of a conditional hypothetical sentence.

ずっと

zutto — All along; continuously; for a long stretch of time.

飛び回っ

tobimawatt(e) — Flying around; moving through the air in all directions.

時間

jikan — Time; a period or duration of measured time.

過ごし

sugoshi — Spend time; pass time doing a particular activity.

旅

tabi — Journey; travel; a trip taken to distant places.

出

de — Exit; go out; stem of the verb deru.

広い

hiroi — Wide; broad; spacious; describing a large open area.

世界

sekai — World; the entire earth or a particular sphere of life.

まわる

mawaru — To go around; to rotate; to travel around a place.

あの

ano — That; referring to something distant from both speakers.

青く

aoku — Bluely; adverbial form of the adjective aoi meaning blue.

青い

aoi — Blue; describing something of a vivid blue color.

空

sora — Sky; the expanse of air above the earth's surface.

高い

takai — High; tall; expensive; describing great height or elevation.

ところ

tokoro — Place; location; spot; a particular point or area.

緑

midori — Green; the color of grass, leaves, and nature.

森

mori — Forest; woods; a dense area filled with many trees.

や

ya — And; listing particle connecting multiple nouns loosely.

草原

sōgen — Grassland; meadow; a wide open area covered in grass.

起き

oki — Wake up; get up; occur; stem of verb okiru.

全部

zenbu — All; everything; the entire total of something.

見下ろ

mikudaro — Look down upon; view from above; overlook from height.

せる

seru — Causative suffix; to make or let someone do something.

昼間

hiruma — Daytime; during the day; the hours of daylight.

ほう

hō — Direction; side; way; comparing one option to another.

いろんな

ironna — Various; all kinds of; many different types of things.

から

kara — From; because; since; indicating origin or reason.

ところで

tokorode — By the way; incidentally; changing the topic of conversation.

陽気

yōki — Cheerful; merry; lively; describing a happy energetic mood.

丸く

maruku — Roundly; in a round shape; adverbial form of marui.

赤い

akai — Red; describing something of a vivid red color.