Grammar Info

N2 Lesson 8: 11/22

気(げ)Seemingly, Giving appearance of, [Expresses emotions or feelings]

Structure

Verb［stem］+ げ + に(1)
［い］Adjective［い］+ げ + に(1)
［な］Adjective + げ + に(1)

(1) な + Noun

Details

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About げ

げ, sometimes seen in the kanji form 気(げ) is a suffix in Japanese that expresses that something is 'giving off the feeling of (A)', or 'seems like (A)'. げ is frequently used in relation to emotions, feelings, and things that the speaker generally can't be 100% sure of due to them not being directly visible.

げ is primarily seen used after the stem form of い-Adjectives, but may also appear following the stem forms of nouns of な-Adjectives. In all of these cases, the addition of げ creates a new な-Adjective meaning '(A) seeming'. Due to this, げ may then be followed by either な or に, depending on whether it is altering a verb or a noun later in the sentence.

げ is more subjective (based on the speaker's opinion) than そう, and is considered to be very low confidence. This may be considered a byproduct of the original 気(き), meaning of 'attention', referring to the way that the speaker 'senses (A)', regardless of what is actually true for (A) on the inside.

Related

Examples

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    教養(きょうよう)がありすぎて可愛(かわい)気(げ)がないのもどうかと思(おも)う。

    I wonder about things that are too refined and don't give off the appearance of being cute.

    彼(かれ)が恥(は)ずかし気(げ)に自分(じぶん)の弱点(じゃくてん)を教(おし)えてくれた。

    Seemingly embarrassed, he told us about his weak points.

    涼(すず)し気(げ)な顔(かお)でマラソンを走(はし)りきるんだから大(たい)したもんだよ。

    It was considerable that he finished running the marathon while seemingly undeterred.

    彼女(かのじょ)はとても素直(すなお)だが、どことなく儚(はかな)気(げ)なのが気(き)になります。

    She is very honest, but I am concerned by her somehow fickle appearance.

    子供(こども)たちが羨(うらや)まし気(げ)に見(み)ているから、お菓子(かし)を分(わ)けてあげた。

    Looking at the children they were giving the appearance of being envious, so I divided up the candy and gave it to them.

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げ – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (3 in total)

  • soundjona

    soundjona

    Is it interchangeable with け ? Like in 吐き気 ?

  • okayfrog

    okayfrog

    bit confused as to when to use げ + な or げ + に

    I just got 彼()が恥()ずかし気()に自分()の弱点()を教()えてくれた wrong because I used な instead of に, which doesn’t make sense to me. Isn’t な used for nouns?

  • casual

    casual

    You have it right, な to modify a noun and に to modify a verb. But in this case it’s modifying 教える, not 弱点.

    恥ずかし気に弱点を教えた。
    Bashfully told about the weak point.

    恥ずかし気な態度で弱点を教えた。
    With an bashful look, told about the weak point.

    恥ずかしい弱点を教えた。
    Told about an embarrassing weak point.

    The weak point itself probably cannot give an appearance.

    Edit: Or did you mean it could be modifying 自分? I don’t think this combination is possible either, but if it was meant like this, hopefully English translation would also say something like “weak point of embarrassed self” .

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