- Basic forms
- 死ぬ — to die / base form
- 死にます — polite / I die / masu form
- 死んだ — past / died / ta form
- 死んで — te-form / die (and …) / linking or request
- 死なない — negative / don’t die / negative form
- 死ねば — if (I) die / conditional
- 死ね — die! / imperative
- Other common forms
- 死にたい — want to die / 〜たい form
- 死ねる — can die (rarely used) / potential
- 死ななかった — didn’t die / negative past
- More
- 死のう — let’s die (archaic or dramatic) / 〜よう form
- 死んでいる — be dead / progressive / state
死ぬ (しぬ) is a unique godan (う-verb) ending in ぬ. In the て- and た-forms, ぬ changes to んで / んだ — for example: 死んで, 死んだ. Though simple in usage, it’s an essential verb in everyday language and expressions like 死んだ魚の目 (dead-fish eyes).
- 死亡 — death (formal)
- 死者 — the deceased
- 必死 — desperate, frantic
- 死体 — dead body, corpse
- 死角 — blind spot
- 死活 — life or death; survival
死 is composed of the radical 歹 (meaning death or decay) and the component ヒ. It historically represents a person lying down or dying. The character expresses the idea of ending, particularly of life.
彼は戦争で死にました。
He died in the war.
死について考えることは生を深く理解することにもつながる。
Thinking about death can lead to a deeper understanding of life.
