I (like to) think I’m doing pretty well, feel like I’m not having too much trouble with radicals, kanji and vocab generally, after drilling them for a while, I can mostly remember them and also guess the readings and meanings of new ones I see, etc.
I just have a big problem with verbs.
Like random example pulled from ChatGPT
向かう（むかう）– to face, to head toward
向く（むく）– to face, to turn toward
向ける（むける）– to turn (something) toward, to direct
向かえる（むかえる）– to go to meet, to approach
I look at 向 and see yeah, it’s something to do with turning or facing, etc… but beyond that, I just can’t get them to stick in my head.
Does anyone have any good strategies? Or does it just take longer because the kana add more meaning but don’t give anything away? Are there any rough rules, like “if it’s got a け, it’s probably transitive” (I just made that up as an example).
There are a bunch of guidelines for transitivity, す verbs are usually transitive, if there are both あand an え versions, (like the か & け in your example) the え is probably transitive, etc. You can look them up.
Really though, it’s just something you’ll have to memorise because you’re not going to be remembering explicit rules when listening or talking.
Yeah, that pair sucks. I don’t know if it’s actually a verb pair (with an unfair number of exceptions) or not, but I did make a spreadsheet about it a while ago - maybe this could help the poster?
Thanks all. I’ve started writing down all the verbs I come across in WK with a context sentence, and mnemonic. Slow process because I’m not good at writing even hiragana yet, and definitely not kanji, so things are taking a lot longer but hopefully improving my writing and helping memorise at the same time
