学生

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 私は大学生です。▶ —
   I am a university student.
2. 学生証を見せてください。▶ —
   Please show your student ID.

Collocations

Mnemonic

がくせい — 学生, Sino-Japanese. Unpack the two characters: 学 (learn) + 生 (live / person) = 'a person who learns'. The Korean reading haksaeng lines up character for character. The translation trap — Korean haksaeng covers elementary, middle, high, university — all in one. Everyday Japanese 学生 usually means daigakusei (university student) specifically. The other levels are separate words — 小学生 shougakusei (elementary), 中学生 chuugakusei (middle school), 高校生 koukousei (high school). What Korean and Chinese bundle into one word, Japanese splits at every school stage. Derivatives: 学生証 gakusei-shou (student ID), 学生時代 gakusei jidai (student days), 学割 gakuwari (student discount). You meet these characters again in Mandarin Roots, as 学 and 生.

Quick check

1. Casual-Japanese trap of gakusei?

   • In casual speech it means daigakusei (university student) specifically — koukousei, chuugakusei, shougakusei are separate words, no one-to-one map with Korean haksaeng
   • All students
   • Teacher
   • Graduate