I Love Kanji説く (toku)
説く (とく, toku) is a Japanese verb meaning “to explain; to preach”. It appears in JLPT N3 vocabulary lists and is marked as a common word in JMdict.
- Reading
- とく
- Romaji
- toku
- Word class
- Godan verb (う-verb) ending in く
- Level
- JLPT N3 (unofficial)
Meaning
- to explain; to preach; to advocate · godan verb, transitive
- to persuade; to prevail upon; to reason with; to urge (someone to do) · godan verb, transitive
Example sentences
あの男を説き伏せようとするのは、オオカミに道理を説いて聞かせるようなものだ。
You might as well reason with the wolf as try to persuade that man.
Sentences from the Tatoeba project, linked to this word in JMdict.
Conjugation of 説く
Godan verb (う-verb) ending in く. Plain and polite forms below; try any other word in the Japanese verb conjugator.
| Form | Japanese | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Dictionary | 説く | とく toku |
| Polite (~masu) | 説きます | ときます tokimasu |
| Negative | 説かない | とかない tokanai |
| Polite negative | 説きません | ときません tokimasen |
| Past | 説いた | といた toita |
| Polite past | 説きました | ときました tokimashita |
| Negative past | 説かなかった | とかなかった tokanakatta |
| Te-form | 説いて | といて toite |
| Potential | 説ける | とける tokeru |
| Passive | 説かれる | とかれる tokareru |
| Causative | 説かせる | とかせる tokaseru |
| Volitional | 説こう | とこう tokou |
| Imperative | 説け | とけ toke |
| Conditional (~ba) | 説けば | とけば tokeba |
Kanji in 説く
Related words
Other vocabulary sharing a kanji with 説く.
小説しょうせつnovel説明せつめいexplanation説せつtheory演説えんぜつspeech解説かいせつexplanation社説しゃせつeditorial学説がくせつtheory伝説でんせつlegend説得せっとくpersuasion概説がいせつoverview
Source: JMdict entry 1386420 (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0). Level: unofficial JLPT list – how levels are assigned.