倒す
たおす
hepburn taosu
to knock down, to topple (transitive)
Part of speech · godan-verb
Pattern visualization
no decomposition available
Examples
- 強い風が木を倒しました。The strong wind knocked the tree down.
- 相手の選手を倒して勝ちました。I won by defeating the opposing player.
Collocations
木を倒す相手を倒す敵を倒す押し倒す倒して勝つ
Mnemonic
倒す taosu — from 倒 (to topple): the person radical 亻 with 到 (to reach) — a person made to fall. It means "to knock down, to topple" and is transitive; its intransitive partner is 倒れる (taoreru, to fall down). Figuratively, 相手を倒す means "to defeat an opponent." It groups with 折る (to snap, K-80) as actions of breaking.
Quick check
What is the intransitive partner of 倒す?