見せる

Japanese

Etymology

Kanji in this term
見
み Grade: 1
kun'yomi

From Old Japanese 見す (misu), following 下二段活用 (shimo nidan katsuyō, “lower bigrade conjugation”).

Development

Natural progression from Old and Classical Japanese 下二段活用 (shimo nidan katsuyō, “lower bigrade conjugation”) verbs ending in -u to modern Japanese 下一段活用 (shimo ichidan katsuyō, “lower monograde conjugation”) verbs ending in -eru.

First cited to the Man'yōshū, circa 759 CE.

Analyzable as 見 (mi, the 連(れん)用(よう)形(けい) (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of the verb 見(み)る (miru, “to see; to look at”)) +‎ す (-su, causative suffix, corresponding to modern せる (-seru)).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) みせる [mìséꜜrù] (Nakadaka – [2])
• IPA^(key): [mʲise̞ɾɯ̟]

• Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of 「見せる」

Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止形) Attributive (連体形)	見せる	みせる	[mìséꜜrù]
Imperative (命令形)	見せろ	みせろ	[mìséꜜrò]
Key constructions
Passive	見せられる	みせられる	[mìséráréꜜrù]
Causative	見せさせる	みせさせる	[mìsésáséꜜrù]
Potential	見せられる	みせられる	[mìséráréꜜrù]
Volitional	見せよう	みせよー	[mìséyóꜜò]
Negative	見せない	みせない	[mìséꜜnàì]
Negative perfective	見せなかった	みせなかった	[mìséꜜnàkàttà]
Formal	見せます	みせます	[mìsémáꜜsù]
Perfective	見せた	みせた	[míꜜsètà]
Conjunctive	見せて	みせて	[míꜜsètè]
Hypothetical conditional	見せれば	みせれば	[mìséꜜrèbà]

Verb

見(み)せる • (miseru) transitive ichidan (stem 見(み)せ (mise), past 見(み)せた (miseta))

Japanese verb pair
causative	見(み)せる
active	見(み)る
mediopassive	見(み)える

1. to show

   写(しゃ)真(しん)を人(ひと)に見(み)せる

   shashin o hito ni miseru

   show someone a picture

2. 魅せる: to show off; to demonstrate a skill or talent
3. used as a 補助動詞 (hojo dōshi), after a verb in the て (-te) conjunctive form: to show one's ability or determination to do something; to set an example by doing something

Conjugation

Conjugation of "見せる" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	見せ	みせ	mise
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	見せ	みせ	mise
Shūshikei ("terminal")	見せる	みせる	miseru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	見せる	みせる	miseru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	見せれ	みせれ	misere
Meireikei ("imperative")	見せよ¹ 見せろ²	みせよ¹ みせろ²	miseyo¹ misero²
Key constructions
Passive	見せられる	みせられる	miserareru
Causative	見せさせる 見せさす	みせさせる みせさす	misesaseru misesasu
Potential	見せられる 見せれる³	みせられる みせれる³	miserareru misereru³
Volitional	見せよう	みせよう	miseyō
Negative	見せない 見せぬ 見せん	みせない みせぬ みせん	misenai misenu misen
Negative continuative	見せず	みせず	misezu
Formal	見せます	みせます	misemasu
Perfective	見せた	みせた	miseta
Conjunctive	見せて	みせて	misete
Hypothetical conditional	見せれば	みせれば	misereba
¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative ³ Colloquial potential

Related terms

• 見(み)る (miru)