起きる

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 毎朝六時に起きます。▶ —
   I wake up at 6 every morning.
2. 事故が起きました。▶ —
   An accident happened.

Collocations

Mnemonic

おきる — 起きる, Yamato. An ichidan verb. The radical 走 (run) inside 起 gives a clue — the moment of rising from lying down and starting to move. Two senses share the verb — a person rising: 朝早く起きる (to wake early). an event rising: 事故が起きる (an accident happens / arises). The Korean instinct — 'achime ireonatda / sagoga ireonatda' both using ireonada — overlaps exactly with the Japanese pattern. The transitive partner: 起こす okosu — wake someone / raise a matter. With its pair 寝る neru, 起きる becomes one of the two daily borders — closes at 寝る, opens again at 起きる.

Quick check

1. For "I woke my little brother", which verb?

   • 起こしました okoshimashita (correct, transitive "wake someone")
   • 起きました (intransitive — "I woke up" myself)
   • 寝ました (= "went to sleep", wrong)
   • 起こりました (= "an event happened", wrong)