乗る

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 電車に乗ります。▶ —
   I take the train.
2. 相談に乗ってください。▶ —
   Please give me some advice.

Collocations

Mnemonic

のる — 乗る, Yamato. A godan verb. Intransitive. Mind the particle trap ── X に乗る, never X を. Where English and Korean use a direct object ('board the train'), Japanese sees it as 'climbing onto' something, with ~に. The kanji 乗 is a pictograph of a person mounted on a tree (木). The metaphor reaches far ── 相談に乗る soudan ni noru (climb onto someone's consultation = give them advice). 波に乗る nami ni noru (ride the wave = catch the trend). The body's 'mounting' becomes a metaphor for social cooperation and riding the moment. The transitive partner is 乗せる noseru (to give a ride) ── intransitive 乗る ↔ transitive 乗せる, one root splitting transitivity by form. The Korean reading seung is sister to the onyomi じょう ── 乗車 jousha (boarding).

Quick check

1. Correct particle for "board the train"?

   • 電車に乗る (に, correct)
   • 電車を乗る (を, common L1-transfer error)
   • 電車で乗る (で, "by train")
   • 電車が乗る (が, ungrammatical)