音読み: ドク・トク・トウ
訓読み: よむ
画数: 14
部首: ごんべん（訁）
Meaning
To read
- Basic forms
- 読む — to read / base form
- 読みます — polite / I read / masu form
- 読んだ — past / read (past tense) / ta form
- 読んで — te-form / read (and …) / linking or request
- 読まない — negative / don’t read / negative form
- 読めば — if I read / conditional
- 読め・読んでみろ — read! / try reading! / imperative
- Other common forms
- 読りたい — want to read / 〜たい form
- 読める — can read / potential form
- 読まれた — was read / passive
- 読ませる — make someone read / causative
- 読んでいた — was reading / past progressive
- More
- 読もう — let’s read / 〜よう form
- 読んでいる — reading / in the middle of reading / progressive
- 読まれている — being read / passive progressive
読む (よむ) is a godan (う-verb).
The final む changes to み / め / ま depending on the form —
for example, 読みます, 読める, 読まない.
It’s used for books, signs, messages, or even “reading the air” (空気を読む).
- 読書 — reading (books)
- 読者 — reader
- 音読 — reading aloud
- 速読 — speed reading
- 朗読 — recitation
More examples - tap to expand
- 熟読 — careful reading
- 判読 — deciphering (reading with difficulty)
- 読破 — reading through (a book)
- 読解 — reading comprehension
Compound Verbs - tap to expand
- 読み上げる — to read aloud; to read out
- 読み取る — to read; to decipher; to perceive
- 読み返す — to reread
- 読み終わる — to finish reading
- 読み聞かせ — reading (a book) to (someone)
読 is formed by 言 (speech) and 売 (to sell), symbolizing drawing out meaning from words — “reading.” It applies to both silent and vocal reading and is central in both academic and daily life vocabulary.