Kiru: Cut, Hang Up, Turn Off, and the Kiru Suffix

One verb, one core image

Behind every use of 切る is the same picture: something continuous is made to stop. A carrot stops being whole, a call stops connecting, a current stops flowing, a relationship stops running, water stops clinging to the noodles, a countdown stops being above three minutes. Once you hold that image, the senses that look unrelated in an English dictionary line up neatly, and you can guess new collocations rather than memorising each one as a separate word.

This matters because kiru appears constantly in service Japanese and workplace Japanese. Announcements ask you to switch a phone off, colleagues ask you to end a call, recipes ask you to drain water, and shop signs tell you an item has run out. All of them are the same verb, and none of them translates as cut.

Kiru is godan, and the kiru that means to wear is not

切る kiru is a godan verb whose ru ending makes it look ichidan, so its te-form is kitte with a small tsu and its past is kitta. 着る kiru, meaning to wear, is a genuine ichidan verb and simply drops ru: kimasu, kite, kita, kinai. The two are separated in speech by the te-form and past, and by nothing at all in the -ba conditional, where both give kireba. Context sorts that one out.

Remember also that 着る covers garments worn on the upper body or the whole body, such as a shirt, a jacket or a kimono. Trousers and shoes take haku, hats take kaburu and glasses take kakeru, so kiru is not a general verb for putting clothes on. Keep the two verbs in one drill until kitte and kite come out of your mouth as different sounds.

The senses of kiru at a glance

The last two rows use relatives rather than kiru itself. 切らす kirasu is the causative-flavoured partner used for running out of a supply, and 裏切る uragiru, literally cutting from behind, is the ordinary verb for betraying a person or an expectation.

Cutting things you can hold

This is the sense every course teaches, and the useful grammar around it is the adverb of manner: komakaku kitte kudasai for finely, hanbun ni for in half, mijikaku for short. At a hairdresser, kami o kiru covers both cutting your own hair and having it cut, and the follow-up question you will hear is dono kurai kirimasu ka. Answer with a length or with kono kurai desu while showing with your fingers.

Hanging up and switching off

Denwa o kiru surprises learners because nothing is being cut in English, but it is the only natural way to say hang up. Announce it before you do it: sorosoro denwa o kirimasu ne, or in a business call shitsurei shimasu followed by silence. The intransitive denwa ga kiremashita is what you say when the call drops, and it is not your fault, so no apology beyond sumimasen is needed.

For machines, dengen o kiru switches something off at the power, and the same verb covers eakon, terebi and a laptop. A light is different: denki o kesu is turn off the light, using kesu, which also covers erasing writing and putting out a fire. Keeping kiru for power and kesu for lights and screens will save you a very common mistake.

Cutting a tie, a deadline, or a number

The abstract uses are the ones that make you sound fluent. En o kiru is strong language for ending a relationship permanently, so reserve it for serious contexts. Kigen o kiru means to put a time limit on something and is common in meetings. Crossing a number downwards also takes kiru: sanpun o kiru for a time, sen'en o kiru for a price. Handoru o kiru is the standard way to describe steering, and sutāto o kiru is the fixed phrase for making a start on something.

Kireru: when something is cut by itself

切れる kireru is both the potential of kiru and an intransitive verb of its own, so context decides. As an intransitive it says that something has run out, snapped, expired or dropped: a battery, a thread, a call, a visa, a best-before date. It also appears in two idioms worth knowing, iki ga kireru for being out of breath and atama ga kireru for being mentally sharp, which is a compliment. The related 切らす kirasu is what you use for a supply you have allowed to run out.

The ~kiru suffix: doing it to the end

Attach kiru to the masu-stem of another verb and you get the meaning of doing that action completely, to the last drop or the final page. Tabe plus kiru gives tabekiru, tsukai plus kiru gives tsukaikiru. The compound stays godan, so it gives tabekirimasu, tabekitta, tabekitte. The potential negative ~kirenai is even more common in speech and means more than I can manage, which is why tabekiremasen is the polite way to leave food.

The last three rows show the pattern hardening into fixed words. Omoikitte is an adverb you can drop into any sentence about doing something bold, and shimekiri and kashikiri are ordinary nouns you will read on notices long before you would think to build them yourself.

Saying the compounds out loud

These lines are worth memorising whole, because they solve real moments. Tabekiremasen is how you decline more food without seeming rude; add sumimasen, oishikatta desu ga to soften it. Yarikiritai desu is a strong, natural way to state commitment in an interview or a review. Omoikitte plus a past verb is how Japanese speakers describe a decision that took courage, including speaking to a stranger in a second language.

Signs and staff lines with kire

Because urikire, shimekiri and kashikiri are nouns, they turn up on signs and in fast staff speech where a verb would be too slow. Read them as a set. If you hear sochira wa urikire desu, the item is gone and the natural follow-up is ja, hoka no mono wa arimasu ka. A kashikiri sign on a restaurant door means the place is closed for a private booking that evening.

Mistakes to fix out loud

• Saying kirimashita for wearing something; that is kimashita, from the ichidan verb 着る.
• Producing kiite or kite for the te-form of cut; it is kitte with a small tsu, because kiru is godan.
• Using denki o kirimasu for a light switch; say denki o keshimasu, and keep dengen o kirimasu for devices.
• Translating hang up literally with a phrase about a receiver; denwa o kirimasu is the whole expression.
• Confusing denwa o kirimashita, which you did on purpose, with denwa ga kiremashita, which happened to you.
• Attaching ~kiru to a dictionary form; it joins the masu-stem, so it is tabekiru and tsukaikiru, never taberukiru.