通じる

Japanese

Kanji in this term
通
つう Grade: 2
on'yomi

Etymology

Shift from verb 通(つう)ずる (tsūzuru), by natural progression from サ行変格活用 (sagyō henkaku katsuyō, “s-irregular conjugation”) verbs ending in -uru to 上一段活用 (kami ichidan katsuyō, “upper monograde conjugation”) verbs ending in -iru.

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) つうじる [tsùújírú] (Heiban – [0])^[1]
IPA^(key): [t͡sɨːʑiɾɯ̟]

Verb

通(つう)じる • (tsūjiru) transitive or intransitive ichidan (stem 通(つう)じ (tsūji), past 通(つう)じた (tsūjita))

(intransitive) to run to, to lead to
この道(みち)は広島(ひろしま)に通(つう)じている。
Kono michi wa Hiroshima ni tsūjiteiru.
This road leads to Hiroshima.
(intransitive) to communicate, to reach
携帯(けいたい)電(でん)話(わ)が通(つう)じなかった。
Keitai denwa ga tsūjinakatta.
I couldn't reach him/her on the mobile phone.
(transitive) to understand
言(こと)葉(ば)は通(つう)じても心(こころ)が通(つう)じないのはなぜ？
Kotoba wa tsūjite mo kokoro ga tsūjinai no wa naze?
Why can we understand each other linguistically but not understand each other's feelings?

Conjugation

Conjugation of "通じる" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs)
Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	通じ	つうじ	tsūji
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	通じ	つうじ	tsūji
Shūshikei ("terminal")	通じる	つうじる	tsūjiru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	通じる	つうじる	tsūjiru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	通じれ	つうじれ	tsūjire
Meireikei ("imperative")	通じよ¹ 通じろ²	つうじよ¹ つうじろ²	tsūjiyo¹ tsūjiro²
Key constructions
Passive	通じられる	つうじられる	tsūjirareru
Causative	通じさせる通じさす	つうじさせるつうじさす	tsūjisaseru tsūjisasu
Potential	通じられる通じれる³	つうじられるつうじれる³	tsūjirareru tsūjireru³
Volitional	通じよう	つうじよう	tsūjiyō
Negative	通じない通じぬ通じん	つうじないつうじぬつうじん	tsūjinai tsūjinu tsūjin
Negative continuative	通じず	つうじず	tsūjizu
Formal	通じます	つうじます	tsūjimasu
Perfective	通じた	つうじた	tsūjita
Conjunctive	通じて	つうじて	tsūjite
Hypothetical conditional	通じれば	つうじれば	tsūjireba

¹ Written imperative
² Spoken imperative
³ Colloquial potential

Derived terms

慇懃(いんぎん)を通(つう)じる (ingin o tsūjiru)

References

^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

“通じる”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026

[NHK-1] NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN

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