VocabularyJLPT N5 · core

登る

のぼる

hepburn noboru

to climb, to go up

Part of speech · godan-verb

Pattern visualization

no decomposition available

Examples

山に登ります。
I climb a mountain.
太陽が昇ります。
The sun rises.

Collocations

登る (noboru, climb)昇る (noboru, ascend — sun / status)上る (noboru, go upward)山登り (yamanobori, mountain climbing)日が昇る (hi ga noboru, the sun rises)

Mnemonic

のぼる — 登る · 昇る · 上る, Yamato. A godan verb. A flagship case of Japanese homophonic verbs: one sound noboru splits across three kanji. Each writing carries a different shade — 登る: a person climbs with effort (mountain, stairs, tree). 山に登る (climb a mountain), 木に登る (climb a tree). 昇る: a natural or celestial ascent, a rise in status. 太陽が昇る (the sun rises), 昇進 shoushin (promotion). 上る: general upward motion (path, upstream). 川を上る (go upstream), 階段を上る (go up the stairs). One verb holds three pictures of 'going up', and the choice of kanji decides which one. The Korean 'oreuda / ollagada' and the Chinese 登 / 升 / 上 split along similar lines; Japanese has compressed the three meanings into one sound and three kanji.

Quick check

Which kanji of noboru fills "taiyou ga ___"?