する

See also: ずる

Japanese

Etymology 1

Alternative spelling
為なる

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

As with all verbs, during the Middle Japanese stage in the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, the 終止しゅうし形がた (shūshikei, “terminal or sentence-ending form”) was gradually lost as the 連体れんたい形がた (rentaikei, “attributive form”) came to be used for both the attributive and terminal grammatical roles, realigning the conjugations.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) する [sùrú] (Heiban – [0])
• (Mishima) する [súꜜrù] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [sɨɾɯ̟]

• Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of "する"

Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止しゅうし形がた) Attributive (連体れんたい形がた)	する	する	[sùrú]
Imperative (命令めいれい形がた)	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)

      稲いね(いな)光ひかり(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(ほね)組くみ(ぐ)み

      gasshiri shita honegumi

      a rigid structure

   3. to be worth; to have the value of

      五ご(ご)億おく(おく)円えん(えん)もする絵え(え)

      gooku en mo suru e

      a painting worth 500 million yen

   4. to pass; to elapse (of time)

      一いち(いち)年とし(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(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(わたし)が司つかさ(し)会かい(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.

      息いき(むす)子こ(こ)を先さき(せん)生せい(せい)にする

      musuko o sensei ni suru

      He is training his son to become a teacher.

      一いち(ひと)人ひと(り)にしないで

      hitori ni shinaide

      please don't leave me alone

      部ぶ(へ)屋や(や)を綺あやぎぬ(き)麗うらら(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(こわ)い目め(め)つきをする

      kowai metsuki o suru

      to have an intimidating glare

      いい子こ(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.

      出で(しゅつ)場ば(じょう)を取と(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:性交せいこうする

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(き)持もち(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(ゆき)は降くだ(ふ)りはしたが積せき(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(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(さく)とすれば上うえ(じょう)々(じょう)の出で(で)来き(き)だ

      shūsaku to sureba jōjō no deki da

      It is of a considerably good quality as for a practice writing.

      親おや(おや)としては心しん(しん)配はい(ぱい)するのは当とう(とう)然しか(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.

      どんなに急きゅう(いそ)いだにしても間あいだ(ま)に合ごう(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(お)/御お(ご) + verbal noun + する", a humble form of the verb.

      Antonym: なる

      Synonym: 致いたす

      届とどけ(とど)ける (todokeru, “to deliver”) — お届とどけ(とど)けします (o-todoke shimasu, “to deliver”, humble)

      伴ばん(とも) (tomo, “company”) — お伴ばん(とも)します (o-tomo shimasu, “to accompany”, humble)

      案あん(あん)内うち(ない)する (annai suru, “to guide”) — ご案あん(あん)内うち(ない)します (go-annai shimasu, “to guide”, humble)

Usage notes

• The verb する (“to do”) is seldom written in kanji (為なる).
• 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:
  • 勉強べんきょう (benkyō, “studying”) → 勉強べんきょうする (benkyō suru, “to do studying” → “to study”)
  • 旅行りょこう (ryokō, “journey”) → 旅行りょこうする (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 (和語わご (wago)) or foreign origin (外来がいらい語ご (gairaigo)). Most verbal nouns can be separated from the ending する (suru) by inserting を (o, object particle); in addition to 日本語にほんごを勉強べんきょうする (Nihongo o benkyō suru, “to study Japanese”) you can say 日本語にほんごの勉強べんきょうをする (Nihongo no benkyō o suru, “to do the studying of Japanese”). (You cannot say *日本語にほんごを勉強べんきょうをする (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 する (suru) and treated as single words in dictionaries:

• Sino-Japanese (usually one-kanji): 関かんする (kansuru, “to concern”), from 関せき (kan, “relation, connection”)
• Native: 私わたくしする (watakushisuru, “to appropriate, to privatize”), from 私わたし (watakushi, “private matter”)

Such verbs can be thought of as morphologically instead of syntactically derived. Sometimes further shape changes may take place:

• For some verbs the する (suru) optionally changes to す (su), with type 1 (godan) conjugation: 訳やくする (yakusuru, “to translate”) usually appears in the shape 訳やくす (yakusu) and favors the forms 訳やくさない (yakusanai) over 訳やくしない (yakushinai), 訳やくそう (yakusō) over 訳やくしよう (yakushiyō), etc.
• For some verbs the する (suru) is voiced as ずる (zuru), then optionally changes to じる (jiru) with type 2 (ichidan) conjugation: 感かんずる (kanzuru) → 感かんじる (kanjiru, “to feel”), 信しんずる (shinzuru) → 信しんじる (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 信しんぜられる (shinzerareru) if not 信しんじられる (shinjirareru), but never *信しんざれる (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 する (suru) to ずる (zuru); compare 感かんずる (kanzuru) → 感かんじる (kanjiru, “to feel”) with 関かんする (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: 報ほうずる (hōzuru) → 報ほうじる (hōjiru, “to report”), 投とうずる (tōzuru) → 投とうじる (tōjiru, “to throw”), as well as some native stems: 重おもんずる (omonzuru) → 重おもんじる (omonjiru, “to hold in high esteem”), 甘あまんずる (amanzuru) → 甘あまんじる (amanjiru, “to content oneself with”), etc.

• The potential form of する (suru) is the suppletive verb できる (dekiru). Verbal nouns that are not bound to the する (suru) can form potential forms by changing the する (suru) to できる (dekiru) directly: 理解りかいできる (rikai dekiru, “to be able to understand”).
• In headlines and enumeration of events, the ending する (suru) can be dropped, leaving the verbal noun at the end of the sentence provided that it is not bound:

  午うま(ご)後のち(ご )２(に)時とき(じ)に到いた(とう)着ちゃく(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" (サ行ぎょう変格活用へんかくかつよう, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Stem forms
Irrealis (未然みぜん形がた)	せ		se
Continuative (連用形れんようけい)	し		si
Terminal (終止しゅうし形がた)	す		su
Attributive (連体れんたい形がた)	する		suru
Realis (已然いぜん形がた)	すれ		sure
Imperative (命令めいれい形がた)	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): 行くだり(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

• す (su)

Etymology 2

Reading for various kanji spellings.

Verb

する • (suru) 

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

1. 刷する, 摺する: 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; compare English slick)
3. 擦こする, 摩さする, 磨する, 擂する: to slide, to rub, to chafe, to strike (as in a match, by rubbing); to lose or waste money
4. 剃そる: irregular reading for 剃そる (soru, “to shave”)