分かる – Understanding the Meaning of Wakaru
The meaning of 分かる in Japanese is to understand. This is a common word in Japanese and pretty straightforward most of the time. Let’s take a closer look
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The Difference between 分かる and Understand
In English, the word understand is a transitive verb. This basically means that it has a subject and a direct object. For example,
John understands math
Here, John is the subject and math is the direct object.
In Japanese however, 分かる is an intransitive verb. This means there is only a subject. So, we would rewrite the previous English sentence in Japanese like this:
ジョンは数学が分かる
Math is understandable for John
You can see that actually 分かる is closer to be understandable.
How to use 分かる
The meaning of 分かる is closest to be understandable. However, it can also mean:
- to be recognizable
- to be able to tell
- to be comprehensible
It depends on the exact sentence. Let’s take a look at some examples.
太郎の表情からあまり寝ていないと分かる
I can tell Taro didn’t sleep much from his facial expression
言いたいことが分かる
I know what you want to say
キャベツとレタスの違いが分からない
I don’t know the difference between cabbage and lettuce