仕える

Japanese
Kanji in this term
仕
Grade: 3

Etymology

From Old Japanese root verb つく (tsuku, “to stick at/into/onto/to”) → by extension, "to obey a person, to take a job, to serve a purpose".

Incomplete stem つか (tsuka) + auxiliary verb ふ (fu, “repetition, ongoing state”) (becoming verb ending う (u) in modern Japanese) → つかう (tsukau, “to use”).

Conjugation into potential form → つかえる (tsukaeru, “to be capable of being used; to be useful”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): [t͡sɨᵝka̠e̞ɾɯ̟ᵝ]
Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of "仕える (つかえる)"
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止形)
Attributive (連体形)		 仕える つかえ​る
つか​える		 [tsùkáéꜜrù]
[tsùkáꜜèrù]
Imperative (命令形) 仕えろ つかえ​ろ
つか​えろ		 [tsùkáéꜜrò]
[tsùkáꜜèrò]
Key constructions
Passive 仕えられる つかえられ​る [tsùkáéráréꜜrù]
Causative 仕えさせる つかえさせ​る [tsùkáésáséꜜrù]
Potential 仕えられる つかえられ​る [tsùkáéráréꜜrù]
Volitional 仕えよう つかえよ​ー [tsùkáéyóꜜò]
Negative 仕えない つかえ​ない [tsùkáéꜜnàì]
Negative perfective 仕えなかった つかえ​なかった [tsùkáéꜜnàkàttà]
Formal 仕えます つかえま​す [tsùkáémáꜜsù]
Perfective 仕えた つか​えた [tsùkáꜜètà]
Conjunctive 仕えて つか​えて [tsùkáꜜètè]
Hypothetical conditional 仕えれば つかえ​れば
つか​えれば		 [tsùkáéꜜrèbà]
[tsùkáꜜèrèbà]

Verb

仕える (intransitive, ichidan conjugation, hiragana つかえる, rōmaji tsukaeru, historical hiragana つかへる)

  1. to serve, serve under, take service under
  2. to enter public service

Usage notes

Unlike the English verb serve, which can take the object of service as a grammatical object, 仕える is always intransitive, and takes the particle に (ni) to specify the person, goal, etc. being served. From the etymology and grammar, a more idiomatic translation into English might be "to be useful to someone", where the bold "to" corresponds to the に particle in the Japanese. Note that this grammatical correspondence may disappear in a more idiomatic translation.

Examples:

  • 最 (もっと)も高 (たか)い目的 (もくてき)に仕 (つか)える
    motto mo takai mokuteki ni tsukaeru
    to be useful to the highest purpose → to serve the highest purpose
  • この数年間 (すうねんかん)、父母 (ちちはは)に仕 (つか)えている。
    Kono sūnenkan, chichihaha ni tsukaeteiru.
    I have been being useful to my parents for several years now. → I have been taking care of my parents for several years now.

Conjugation
Conjugation of "仕える" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
Stem forms
Imperfective (未然形) 仕え つかえ tsukae
Continuative (連用形) 仕え つかえ tsukae
Terminal (終止形) 仕える つかえる tsukaeru
Attributive (連体形) 仕える つかえる tsukaeru
Hypothetical (仮定形) 仕えれ つかえれ tsukaere
Imperative (命令形) 仕えよ¹
仕えろ²		 つかえよ¹
つかえろ²		 tsukaeyo¹
tsukaero²
Key constructions
Passive 仕えられる つかえられる tsukaerareru
Causative 仕えさせる
仕えさす		 つかえさせる
つかえさす		 tsukaesaseru
tsukaesasu
Potential 仕えられる
仕えれる³		 つかえられる
つかえれる³		 tsukaerareru
tsukaereru³
Volitional 仕えよう つかえよう tsukaeyō
Negative 仕えない
仕えぬ
仕えん		 つかえない
つかえぬ
つかえん		 tsukaenai
tsukaenu
tsukaen
Negative continuative 仕えず つかえず tsukaezu
Formal 仕えます つかえます tsukaemasu
Perfective 仕えた つかえた tsukaeta
Conjunctive 仕えて つかえて tsukaete
Hypothetical conditional 仕えれば つかえれば tsukaereba
¹ Written imperative
² Spoken imperative
³ Colloquial potential

Phrases

Idioms
  • すまじきものは宮仕 (みやづか)え (sumajiki mono wa miyazukae): it is better to work for oneself than to work for someone else

Alternative forms
  • (rare) 事 (つか)える (tsukaeru)

Synonyms

Derived terms
Derived terms
Homophones deriving from the root つく (tsuku)
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