落とす

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. コップを落としてしまった。▶ —
   I dropped the cup.
2. 試験を落としました。▶ —
   I failed the exam.

Collocations

Mnemonic

Otosu (落とす) is the godan transitive verb for "drop / lose / fail / lower" — paired with the intransitive ochiru (落ちる, to fall). The kanji 落 (raku) etymologically pictures a falling leaf. Transitivity pair: hito ga mono wo otosu (person drops a thing) vs mono ga ochiru (thing falls). Multi-sense cluster: (1) physical drop — koppu wo otosu (drop a cup); (2) lose / misplace — saifu wo otosu (lose a wallet, Japanese cognitive code: lose by dropping); (3) fail an exam — shiken wo otosu (drop the test, an interesting metaphor: shitting the exam down); (4) lower in price or volume — nedan wo otosu (cut price), oto wo otosu (lower the volume); (5) clean off — yogore wo otosu (remove dirt). The otoshimono (lost item) cultural code: Japans recovery rate for lost items is the worlds highest — National Police Agency statistics put it around 70 percent, and Tokyo Metro near 86 percent. The shinsetsushin (kindness) code plus the mottai-nai virtue (covered earlier in nokosu) plus the hashutsujo (police box) network underlie the rate. Foreign learners are advised to report losses immediately at a hashutsujo or station office. Korean tteoreo-tteurida / iru and Chinese diao / diu diverge. JLPT N5 anchors otosu plus the ochiru transitivity pair.

Quick check

1. Why Japans otoshimono recovery rate is the worlds highest?

   • Combination of shinsetsushin (kindness), mottai-nai (waste-avoidance virtue), and the hashutsujo (police box) network
   • Strict legal punishment
   • CCTV coverage
   • High reward money