Talk:知る
The difference between “ 分かる” and “ 知る”[edit]
I have no doubt that anyone studying Japanese has noticed that the words “ 分かる” and “ 知る” can translate to the same thing in English. However, it is clear that there is a difference between them. Well, I would like to present to you a translation and adaptation of the contents of a Japanese web page that explains the difference between these two words.
Questions of Language
What is the difference between “分かる” and “知る”?
August 29, 2018; SUNAKAWA Yuriko
Question
At a time like while showing a group photo to your friends, you point to one of them and ask, 「この人だれか分かる？」 ― “kono hito dare ka wakaru?” ― “You know who this person is?”, you can use “知る” instead of “分かる” and say, 「この人だれか知ってる？」 ― “kono hito dare ka shitteru?” ― “You know who this person is?”. On the other hand, at a time like showing a group photo where the focus is so blurred that you cannot distinguish faces and asking, 「私がどれだか分かる？」 ― “watashi ga dore da ka wakaru?” ― “You know which one I am?”, I feel that something is wrong with saying “私がどれだか知ってる？” Why might that be?
Answer
The basic meaning of “分かる” is that a cognitive state changes from an unclear state to a clear state. In other words, “分かる” indicates that an unclear cognitive state changes to a clear state, by doing things like checking it with past experiences and knowledge that you already have.
On the other hand, the basic meaning of “知る” is that you make a cognitive state change from a state where you do not have knowledge to a state where you have knowledge. In other words, “知る” indicates that you acquire new knowledge that you did not have before by hearing it from people, looking it up on your own, etc.
[Figure shows a person looking confused and then having a flash of insight (“分かる”), and shows a person reading a book and filing the information away in their brain (“知る”).] Figure: From “Basic Verb Handbook (http://verbhandbook.ninjal.ac.jp)”
Furthermore, “分かる” can not only indicate the change of “going from a state where you do not understand to a state where you understand,” but it can also indicate the state of “I currently already understand.” However, “知る” can only indicate the change of “going from a state where you do not know to a state where you know,” and cannot indicate “the state where you currently already know.” That is why even though you can say things like, “この人だれか分かる？” you cannot say, “この人だれか知る？” At a time like this, it must be in the form of “〜て（い）る” like “この人だれか知ってる？” Moreover, another troublesome thing regarding “知る” is the fact that there is no negative form of “知って（い）ない”. To give a negative answer to the question “この人だれか知ってる？” you must say “知らない,” not “知ってない.” For people who learn Japanese as a foreign language, this point is a problem that they must watch out for.
Now, let’s take a look at the scene where you point to one person in a group photo and ask your friends, 「この人だれか？」 ― “kono hito dare ka?” ― “Who is this person?”. At a time like this, you can not only ask them to identify that person in light of knowledge that your friends already have, but you can also ask whether your friends have any knowledge of who that person is. “分かる” is used in the former case and “知る” in the latter case.
On the other hand, when you ask them to identify which person is “me” from within an out-of-focus group photo, it is not the case that your friends will have any prior knowledge of which person in the photo is “me”. And yet, it is a very strange thing to ask whether or not they have knowledge by saying “知ってる？” In this case, you must use “分かる” because it is that your friends determine which person is “me” by mobilizing the knowledge that they already have regarding “me” such as “my” features and height.
It is that “分かる” indicates that an unclear cognitive state changes into a clear one by exercising the discernment and judgement that the subject has inherently. Because of that, it is possible to focus on the process of change halfway through and say things like, 「日本語がだんだん分かるようになってきた」 ― “nihongo ga dandan wakaru yō ni natte kita” ― “I have gradually come to understand Japanese.”. On the other hand, “知る” is more something that indicates a momentary change from a state where you do not know to a state where you know, so you cannot express it by focusing on the process of change. That is why you can say 「徐々に分かるよ」 ― “jojo ni wakaru yo” ― “I will gradually understand it, I tell you.” but not “徐々に知るよ,” and you can say 「ようやく分かってきた」 ― “yōyaku wakatte kita” ― “I have finally begun to understand.” but not “ようやく知ってきた.”
Moreover, the negative form of “分かる” can indicate that something that was in a clear state winds up becoming an unclear state for some reason, as in the following.
- (1) 頭が混乱して何が何だか分からなくなってしまった。 ― atama ga konran shite nani ga nan da ka wakara naku natte shimatta. ― I became confused and wound up not knowing what was what anymore.
- (2) おばあちゃんは私がだれかもう分からないみたいだ。 ― obāchan wa watashi ga dare ka mō wakaranai mitai da. ― It seems Grandma doesn’t know who I am anymore.
However, the negative form of “知る” only indicates that you have no knowledge, and cannot indicate that you lose the knowledge. Because of that, the following sentences become strange sentences that are unacceptable in Japanese. (The mark ※ indicates that it is an unacceptable sentence.)
- (3) ※考えれば考えるほど、何が何だか知らなくなった。
- (4) ※以前は知っていたが、今ではもう知らなくなった。
As I mentioned before, “分かる” indicates that an unclear cognitive state changes into a clear one through the discernment and judgement that the subject has inherently, while in contrast, “知る” indicates that you make it change from a state where you do not have knowledge to a state where you have it by incorporating knowledge from the outside. On the other hand, “分からない,” the negative form, indicates that you cannot cause a change in the cognitive state, and “知らない” indicates that it is a state where you do not have knowledge. That you cannot say “いくら考えても知らない” even though you can say 「いくら考えても分からない」 ― “ikura kangaete mo wakaranai” ― No matter how much I think about it, I don’t understand. is because things that you think very hard about and things that you do not understand are linked in a contradictory relationship between conditions and consequences, but things that you think very hard about and things that you have no knowledge of cannot be linked in a relationship like that.
The Person Who Wrote This
砂川有里子
- sunakawa yuriko
- SUNAKAWA Yuriko
Visiting professor at the Japanese as a Second Language Research Division, National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics. Professor Emeritus at the University of Tsukuba. Her speciality is Grammatical Studies and Discourse Analysis for Japanese Language Education. Her hobbies are skiing, swimming, cooking, reading, drinking, eating, and sleeping. Major publications include 『教師と学習者のための日本語文型辞典』 ― “kyōshi to gakushūsha no tame no nihongo bunkei jiten” ― “A Handbook of Japanese Grammar Patterns for Teachers and Learners” (literally, ““A Japanese Sentence Pattern Dictionary for Teachers and Learners””) (1998, Kurosio Publishers, co-author), 『文法と談話の接点─日本語の談話における主題展開機能の研究』 ― “bunpō to danwa no setten ─ nihongo no danwa ni okeru shudai tenkai kinō no kenkyū” ― “Common Ground Between Grammar and Discourse — A Study on Thematic Development Functions in Japanese Discourse” (2005, Kurosio Publishers), 『日本語教育研究への招待』 ― “nihongo kyōiku kenkyū e no shōtai” ― “An Invitation to Japanese Language Education Studies” (2010, Kurosio Publishers, co-editor), and 『新・日本語教育のためのコーパス調査入門』 ― “shin nihongo kyōiku no tame no kōpasu chōsa nyūmon” ― “New Introduction to Corpus Surveys for Japanese Language Education” (2018, Kurosio Publishers, co-author).
References/Recommended Books/Sites
- Tomomi Nabatame, Mari Takahara, Yuriko Sunakawa (2017 January) “Corpus Analysis of the Polysemic Quasi-Synonymous Words shiru and wakaru”, in NINJAL Research Papers[1] (in Japanese), volume 12, number 1, pages 63–79
- “分かる（わかる） [Understand (wakaru)]”, in 基本動詞ハンドブック [Basic Verb Handbook][2] (in Japanese), National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, 2018 December 1
- “知る（しる） [Know (shiru)]”, in 基本動詞ハンドブック [Basic Verb Handbook][3] (in Japanese), National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, 2018 February 27
I hope that helps! Wise Bridges Fool Walls (talk) 13:59, 28 March 2023 (UTC)
- Nice research, though it definitely seem advanced that it delve into the nuance between the two verbs. You could certainly summarize and edit the usage notes in main page and link it to the full article if anyone is interested. Shen233 (talk) 17:32, 28 March 2023 (UTC)