する

See also: ずる

Japanese

Etymology 1
Alternative spelling
為る

From Old Japanese root verb す (su, “to do”).[1][2] Cognate with Okinawan すん (sun).

As with all verbs, during the Middle Japanese stage in the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, the 終止形 (shūshikei, “terminal or sentence-ending form”) was gradually lost as the 連体形 (rentaikei, “attributive form”) came to be used for both the attributive and terminal grammatical roles, realigning the conjugations.

Pronunciation
  • Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of "する"
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止形)
Attributive (連体形)		 する する [sùrú]
Imperative (命令形) しろ
せよ		 しろ
せ​よ		 [shìró]
[séꜜyò]
Key constructions
Passive される される [sàrérú]
Causative させる させる [sàsérú]
Potential できる でき​る [dèkíꜜrù]
Volitional しよう しよ​ー [shìyóꜜò]
Negative しない しない [shìnáí]
Negative perfective しなかった しな​かった [shìnáꜜkàttà]
Formal します しま​す [shìmáꜜsù]
Perfective した した [shìtá]
Conjunctive して して [shìté]
Hypothetical conditional すれば すれ​ば [sùréꜜbà]

Verb

する • (suru) transitive or intransitive suru (stem し (shi), past した (shita))

  1. (intransitive)
    1. to exist; to come up (of inanimate objects)
      稲(いな)光(びかり)がする
      inabikari ga suru
      Lightning occurred.
      においがする
      nioi ga suru
      There is a smell.
    2. to exist (in someone or something) (of a specified state; of a specified quality)
      がっしりした骨(ほね)組(ぐ)み
      gasshiri shita honegumi
      a rigid structure
    3. to be worth; to have the value of
      五(ご)億(おく)円(えん)もする絵(え)
      gooku en mo suru e
      a painting worth 500 million yen
    4. to pass; to elapse (of time)
      一(いち)年(ねん)もすれば忘(わす)れるだろう
      ichinen mo sureba wasureru darō
      It will be forgotten after one year.
  2. (transitive)
    1. to do; to perform an action
      何(なに)をしていますか。
      Nani o shite imasu ka.
      What are you doing?
    2. to act as; to play a role of
      私(わたし)が司(し)会(かい)をする
      watashi ga shikai o suru
      I am the anchorman.
    3. to render; to make become (used as the suppletive causative form of なる (naru))
      Usually "A を B に / と + する ", to make A become B.
      息(むす)子(こ)を先(せん)生(せい)にする
      musuko o sensei ni suru
      He is training his son to become a teacher.
      一(ひと)人(り)にしないで
      hitori ni shinaide
      please don't leave me alone
      部(へ)屋(や)を綺(き)麗(れい)にする
      heya o kirei ni suru
      to clean up one's room
    4. (to be in a specified state; to have a specified quality) to be
      怖(こわ)い目(め)つきをする
      kowai metsuki o suru
      to have an intimidating glare
      いい子(こ)にしなさいね
      ī ko ni shinasai ne
      Be a good boy.
    5. to wear (accessories)
      ネクタイをする。
      Nekutai o suru.
      I wear a necktie.
    6. to decide; to choose or to make a judgment
      まあ、これでよしとしよう
      mā, kore de yoshi to shiyō
      Alright, let's go with that.
      出(しゅつ)場(じょう)を取(と)りやめにする
      shutsujō o toriyame ni suru
      I decided to quit the competition.
    7. (informal) to do it; to have sex
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:性交する
  3. (auxiliary)
    1. "Adverb + する", forming predicates or attributives from adverbs.
      いらいら (iraira, “(adverb) irritated”) - いらいらする気(き)持(も)ち (iraira suru kimochi, “feeling of irritation”)
    2. "Verbal noun + emphatic particle (e.g. は, も, こそ, さえ) + する ", emphasizing the verb.
      雪(ゆき)は降(ふ)りはしたが積(つ)もらなかった
      yuki wa furi wa shita ga tsumoranakatta
      It did snow, but the snow did not pile up.
    3. "Volitional form of verb + と + する": to be about to; to incline to
      日(ひ)が沈(しず)もうとしている
      hi ga shizumō to shite iru
      The sun is about to set.
    4. "に / と + する", to give a condition or standpoint, either real or hypothetical: if / since; assuming that / now that
      習(しゅう)作(さく)とすれば上(じょう)々(じょう)の出(で)来(き)だ
      shūsaku to sureba jōjō no deki da
      It is of a considerably good quality as for a practice writing.
      親(おや)としては心(しん)配(ぱい)するのは当(とう)然(ぜん)だ
      oya to shite wa shinpai suru no wa tōzen da
      It's inevitable to worry about that if you were the parent.
      どんなに急(いそ)いだにしても間(ま)に合(あ)わなかっただろう
      donna ni isoida ni shite mo ma ni awanakatta darō
      It would never have been done in time no matter how hard we had worked.
    5. (humble) "御(お)/御(ご) + verbal noun + する", a humble form of the verb.
      Antonym: なる
      Synonym: 致す
      届(とど)ける (todokeru, “to deliver”) — お届(とど)けします (o-todoke shimasu, “to deliver”, humble)
      伴(とも) (tomo, “company”) — お伴(とも)します (o-tomo shimasu, “to accompany”, humble)
      案(あん)内(ない)する (annai suru, “to guide”) — ご案(あん)内(ない)します (go-annai shimasu, “to guide”, humble)
Usage notes
  • The verb する (“to do”) is seldom written in kanji (為る).
  • It is common to use する after certain nouns to indicate that the noun is being done; this is highly productive, meaning many nouns can be used as verbs in this way. Some examples are:
    • 勉強 (benkyō, “studying”) → 勉強する (benkyō suru, “to do studying” → “to study”)
    • 旅行 (ryokō, “journey”) → 旅行する (ryokō suru, “to do journey” → “to travel”)
    • アップロード (appurōdo, “upload”) → アップロードする (appurōdo suru, “to do uploading” → “to upload”)
Most verbal nouns are Sino-Japanese words (usually two-kanji), but some are of native (和語 (wago)) or foreign origin (外来語 (gairaigo)). Most verbal nouns can be separated from the ending Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value) by inserting を (o, object particle); in addition to 日本語を勉強する (Nihongo o benkyō suru, “to study Japanese”) you can say 日本語の勉強をする (Nihongo no benkyō o suru, “to do the studying of Japanese”). (You cannot say *日本語を勉強をする (Nihongo o benkyō o suru, literally “to [do studying]verb Japanese”), despite Korean 일본어를 공부를 하다 (ilboneo-reul gongbu-reul hada). Modern Japanese cannot have multiple direct objects.) However, some verbal nouns are bound to the ending Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value) and treated as single words in dictionaries:
Such verbs can be thought of as morphologically instead of syntactically derived. Sometimes further shape changes may take place:
  • For some verbs the Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value) optionally changes to す (su), with type 1 (godan) conjugation: 訳する (yakusuru, “to translate”) usually appears in the shape 訳す (yakusu) and favors the forms 訳さない (yakusanai) over 訳しない (yakushinai), 訳そう (yakusō) over 訳しよう (yakushiyō), etc.
  • For some verbs the Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value) is voiced as ずる (zuru), then optionally changes to じる (jiru) with type 2 (ichidan) conjugation: 感ずる (kanzuru) → 感じる (kanjiru, “to feel”), 信ずる (shinzuru) → 信じる (shinjiru, “to believe”). When they are not changed to type 2 conjugation, they make passive and causative forms ending in -zerareru/-zesaseru: the passive form of “to believe” is 信ぜられる (shinzerareru) if not 信じられる (shinjirareru), but never *信ざれる (shinzareru). Most of these are derived from single Sino-Japanese kanji ending in a nasal (-m, -n, -ng) in Middle Chinese, but not all kanji ending in a nasal in Middle Chinese voice the following Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value) to ずる (zuru); compare 感ずる (kanzuru) → 感じる (kanjiru, “to feel”) with 関する (kansuru, “to concern”). Furthermore, the voicing also occurs for some kanji whose Japanese reading ends in a long sound erroneously traced back to Middle Chinese -ng: 報ずる (hōzuru) → 報じる (hōjiru, “to report”), 投ずる (tōzuru) → 投じる (tōjiru, “to throw”), as well as some native stems: 重んずる (omonzuru) → 重んじる (omonjiru, “to hold in high esteem”), 甘んずる (amanzuru) → 甘んじる (amanjiru, “to content oneself with”), etc.
  • The potential form of Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value) is the suppletive verb できる (dekiru). Verbal nouns that are not bound to the Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value) can form potential forms by changing the Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value) to できる (dekiru) directly: 理解できる (rikai dekiru, “to be able to understand”).
  • In headlines and enumeration of events, the ending Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value) can be dropped, leaving the verbal noun at the end of the sentence provided that it is not bound:
    午(ご)後(ご )２(に)時(じ)に到(とう)着(ちゃく)。 ― Gogo niji ni tōchaku. ― Arrived at 2 PM.
  • See also Category:Japanese suru verbs.
Conjugation
Conjugation of "する" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective") さ・し・せ* sa shi se*
Ren’yōkei ("continuative") し shi
Shūshikei ("terminal") する suru
Rentaikei ("attributive") する suru
Kateikei ("hypothetical") すれ sure
Meireikei ("imperative") せよ¹
しろ²		 seyo¹
shiro²
Key constructions
Passive される sareru
Causative させる
さす		 saseru
sasu
Potential できる dekiru
Volitional しよう shiyō
Negative しない shinai
Negative continuative せず sezu
Formal します shimasu
Perfective した shita
Conjunctive して shite
Hypothetical conditional すれば sureba
* The sa- imperfective occurs in Kansai dialect and in certain set phrases, and forms the base of the passive and causative conjugations sareru, saseru, and sasu. The se- imperfective occurs in Classical Japanese and in other set phrases, and forms the base of the negative continuative conjugation sezu. The shi- imperfective is most common in Tokyo-standard everyday modern Japanese for forming the base of the negative conjugation shinai.

¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative

Classical conjugation of "す" (サ行変格活用, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
Stem forms
Irrealis (未然形) せse
Continuative (連用形) しsi
Terminal (終止形) すsu
Attributive (連体形) するsuru
Realis (已然形) すれsure
Imperative (命令形) せよseyo
Key constructions
Negative せずsezu
Contrasting conjunction すれどsuredo
Causal conjunction すればsureba
Conditional conjunction せばseba
Past tense (firsthand knowledge) しきsiki
Past tense (secondhand knowledge) しけりsikeri
Perfect tense (conscious action) しつsitu
Perfect tense (natural event) しぬsinu
Perfect-continuative tense せり
したり		seri
sitari
Volitional せむsemu
Synonyms
  • (to do): 致(いた)す (itasu) (humble)
  • (to do): やる (yaru) (colloquial)
  • (to do): なす (nasu) (somewhat archaic, usage is more limited)
  • (to do): 行(おこな)う (okonau, “to carry out”)
  • (used to make a verb): 〜る (-ru), a much less productive suffix for turning a noun into a verb
See also

Etymology 2

Reading for various kanji spellings.

Verb

する • (suru) 

Various verbs deriving from senses similar to “to slide” or “to rub”:

  1. 刷る, 摺る: to print something (from the way the paper would be placed on the printing block and rubbed)
  2. 掏る: to pick someone's pocket (possibly from the way a pickpocket must slide along unnoticed;[5] compare English slick)
  3. 擦る, 摩る, 磨る, 擂る: to slide, to rub, to chafe, to strike (as in a match, by rubbing); to lose or waste money
  4. 剃る: irregular reading for 剃る (soru, “to shave”)

References
  1. “為”, in 日本国語大辞典 (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “Nihon Kokugo Daijiten”)‎ (in Japanese), concise edition, Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 2000
  2. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, →ISBN
  4. Uwano, Zendo (2002-10-31), “見島方言の用言のアクセント調査報告 [A Report on the Accentual Surveys of Verbs and Adjectives in the Mishima Dialect]”, in 環太平洋の「消滅に瀕した言語」にかんする緊急調査研究 [Endangered languages of the Pacific Rim]‎, →ISSN, archived from the original on 2022-09-25
  5. 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
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