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VocabularyJLPT N4 · core

驚く

おどろく
hepburn odoroku

to be surprised, to be astonished

Part of speech · godan-verb

Pattern visualization

no decomposition available

Examples

  1. 突然の知らせに驚きました。
    I was surprised by the sudden news.
  2. 彼の日本語の上手さに驚きました。
    I was astonished at how good his Japanese was.

Collocations

驚いて声を出すとても驚く驚いた顔ニュースに驚く驚かせる

Mnemonic

驚く odoroku — kanji 驚 (to be startled) + the godan ending く. To be surprised. What surprises you is marked with に: ニュースに驚く (surprised by the news). The causative 驚かせる (odorokaseru) means "to surprise someone." びっくりする is the more colloquial near-synonym.

Quick check

  1. Which correctly says "surprised by the news"?

Listed inJLPT N4 · core
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