Grammar Info

N3 Lesson 1: 7/22

べきMust, Should , Ought to

する → すべき or するべき

Structure

Verb + べき + だ
Verb + べき + Noun
［い］Adjective + くある + べき + だ
［な］Adjective + である + べき + だ
Noun + である + べき + だ

Exceptions:
する ￫ す（る）べき

Details

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    Standard

  • Rare Kanji

    可き

About べき

The auxiliary verb べき, being the attributive form of べし, is a structure in Japanese that is often paired with verbs to express that something 'ought to be done'. It implies some sort of moral obligation, or that (A) is the only reasonable course of action. This comes from the kanji 可(べ)き, which carries the meaning of being something 'permissible' (indicating that any other action would not be acceptable).

べき will be paired with the plain (non-past) form of a verb, before being followed by either だ, or another noun.

べき is also sometimes translated as 'must do (A)', or 'should do (A)' but it is important to remember that it will always have the nuance of being the only 'permissible' choice, and is therefore very strong.

Caution

It is important to note that the verb appearing with べき cannot be in past tense, and you will need to use だった or でした after べき, if you would like to say that something 'ought to have been done' in the past.

Fun Fact

In modern Japanese, there are only 18 auxiliary verbs, of which べき is not one. べし (the standard form) is considered to be a classical auxiliary verb. Due to this, べき (and べし) are often referred to as classical auxiliary verbs.

Fun Fact

The combination of する and べき is a rare grammatical exception in Japanese, in which two forms are both considered equally correct. Due to this, either するべき, or すべき may be used.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Related

Examples

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    税金(ぜいきん)を払(はら)う可(べ)きです。

    You should pay taxes.

    考(かんが)える可(べ)きことが多(おお)すぎて、頭(あたま)が痛(いた)い。

    There are too many things I should think about, so my head hurts.

    言(い)う可(べ)きことを言(い)うのは親(おや)の義務(ぎむ)だ。

    Saying things that you should say is a duty of a parent.

    誰(だれ)も見(み)ていなくても、法律(ほうりつ)は守(まも)る可(べ)きだ。

    Even when no one is looking, you should obey the law.

    明日(あした)の会議(かいぎ)は重大(じゅうだい)な話(はなし)があるので、出席(しゅっせき)をする可(べ)きだ。

    Because we will talk about something important at tomorrow's meeting, everyone should attend.

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べき – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (25 in total)

  • IcyIceBear

    IcyIceBear

    Say I have a 1000 piece puzzle. I give you 999 of them. When I give you this last piece, you will now have the complete puzzle. Your puzzle won’t be 全部 until I give you これ (the piece in my hand), making it the last piece.

    I tried 🤷 tldr the sentence and translation both make sense

  • Munchakoopas

    Munchakoopas

    I agree with this. There is no actual word for “last”. It’s just implied it’s the last thing because they are finishing up teaching you.

  • homa

    homa

    Ok thank you, now it makes more sense

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