VocabularyJLPT N5 · core

貸す

かす
hepburn kasu

to lend, to loan

Part of speech · godan-verb

Pattern visualization

no decomposition available

Examples

  1. すみません、ペンを貸してください。
    Excuse me, could you lend me a pen?
  2. 銀行がお金を貸してくれた。
    The bank lent me money.

Collocations

貸す (kasu, lend)借りる (kariru, borrow)貸し借り (kashikari, lending and borrowing)貸出 (kashidashi, loan)レンタル (rentaru, rental)

Mnemonic

Kasu (貸す) is a godan transitive — "to lend." Pairs with kariru (借りる, to borrow) by directionality. English lend / borrow and Korean billyeo-juda / billi-da also split. Metaphor: te o kasu (lend a hand = help), matching Korean son billyeo-juda and English "lend a hand." Kashikari (貸し借り, lending-and-borrowing) becomes an abstract noun meaning a relationship of debts and favors — kashikari nashi no kankei (a relationship free of debt = clean relations). Kanji 貸 = 代 (substitute) + 貝 (money, originally a cowrie shell) = "to entrust money substitutively." A pictographic etymology.

Quick check

  1. Meaning of "te o kasu"?

Listed inJLPT N5 · core
Back to index
Was this helpful? Support SeeGongsik