JLPT N2 · Verb

遡る (sakanoboru)

遡る (さかのぼる, sakanoboru) is a Japanese verb meaning “to go upstream; to go up (a river)”. It is usually written in kana. It appears in JLPT N2 vocabulary lists and is marked as a common word in JMdict.

Reading: さかのぼる
Romaji: sakanoboru
Word class: Godan verb (う-verb) ending in る
Level: JLPT N2 (unofficial)

Meaning

to go upstream; to go up (a river) · godan verb, intransitive · usually written in kana
to go back (to the past or origin); to date back (to); to trace back (to); to be retroactive (to) · godan verb, intransitive · usually written in kana

Example sentences

鮭は川をさかのぼって砂に産卵する。

Salmon go up the river and lay their eggs in the sand.

Tatoeba #169564

その教会は１１７３年までさかのぼる。

The church dates back to 1173.

Tatoeba #211419

Sentences from the Tatoeba project, linked to this word in JMdict.

Conjugation of 遡る

Godan verb (う-verb) ending in る. Plain and polite forms below; try any other word in the Japanese verb conjugator.

Form	Japanese	Reading
Dictionary	遡る	さかのぼる sakanoboru
Polite (~masu)	遡ります	さかのぼります sakanoborimasu
Negative	遡らない	さかのぼらない sakanoboranai
Polite negative	遡りません	さかのぼりません sakanoborimasen
Past	遡った	さかのぼった sakanobotta
Polite past	遡りました	さかのぼりました sakanoborimashita
Negative past	遡らなかった	さかのぼらなかった sakanoboranakatta
Te-form	遡って	さかのぼって sakanobotte
Potential	遡れる	さかのぼれる sakanoboreru
Passive	遡られる	さかのぼられる sakanoborareru
Causative	遡らせる	さかのぼらせる sakanoboraseru
Volitional	遡ろう	さかのぼろう sakanoborou
Imperative	遡れ	さかのぼれ sakanobore
Conditional (~ba)	遡れば	さかのぼれば sakanoboreba

Kanji in 遡る

遡

go upstream, retrace the pastソ・サク・さかのぼ.る · 13 strokes

Source: JMdict entry 1397830 (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0). Level: unofficial JLPT list – how levels are assigned.