書く

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 手紙を書きます。▶ —
   I write a letter.
2. 名前をここに書いてください。▶ —
   Please write your name here.

Collocations

Mnemonic

かく — 書く, Yamato. A godan -ku verb. ます-form 書きます, te-form 書いて — regular -ku → -ite. The homophone 描く kaku (to draw) is family — 'writing' and 'drawing' live on one sound; the kanji decides which. 書く: 手紙を書く (write a letter), 漢字を書く (write kanji). 描く: 絵を描く (paint a picture). Where English keeps "write" and "draw" apart, Japanese caught the underlying act — moving the hand to leave marks on paper — and gave it one verb. The intuition fits East Asian calligraphy: the same brush handles letters and images alike.

Quick check

1. What is the te-form of 書く?

   • 書いて kaite (correct, -ku → -ite)
   • 書って (wrong, mistakenly applying the 行く exception)
   • 書きて (incorrect uninflected)
   • 書ぐて (wrong)