拾います（ひろいます、hiroimasu）
- to pick up

The Japanese word 拾います (読み方: ひろいます, *hiruimasu*) means "to pick up," "to find," "to gather," or "to collect" something that is on the ground or has fallen. It implies the action of bending down or reaching to retrieve an object. It often suggests that the object was not originally in the person's possession. The word emphasizes the action of bringing something into one's possession. It's about recovering something that's lost or discarded.

⚫︎道でお金を拾いました。 Translation: I found some money on the street. ⚫︎ゴミを拾いましょう。 Translation: Let's pick up the trash. ⚫︎子供が落としたおもちゃを拾いました。 Translation: I picked up the toy that the child dropped.

⚫︎This word is used when you are physically picking something up. ⚫︎It's common to use 拾います when talking about picking up lost items, trash, or anything that needs to be brought from the ground to a higher position (usually into your hand or a container). ⚫︎It's a versatile verb and can be used in various contexts. For example, if you see trash on the ground and want to clean it up, you'd use this verb. Similarly, if you find something that belongs to someone else. ⚫︎You can use the polite form 拾います (present affirmative) and 拾いませんでした (past negative) with casual friends. If you talk to superiors, you could use 拾いました (past affirmative) or polite expressions.

⚫︎This word is typically written in hiragana as ひろいます. ⚫︎The kanji form is 拾います. The kanji 拾means "to pick up," "to gather," or "ten." ⚫︎Variations in the okurigana (the suffix hiragana) are not common in this word. The stem is always 拾 followed by the verb endings. ⚫︎The polite form is 拾います. The past tense of this verb is 拾いました, and the negative form is 拾いません or 拾いませんでした (past negative). The te-form is 拾って.

⚫︎見つけます (mitsukemasu) - to find, to discover (more general) ⚫︎集めます (atsumemasu) - to gather, to collect ⚫︎手に入れます (te ni iremasu) - to obtain, to get (can also be used if someone is picking something up.)

⚫︎落とします (otoshimasu) - to drop, to lose ⚫︎捨 てます (sutemasu) - to throw away, to discard

公園で子供がボールを拾いました。 ・Translation: The child picked up the ball in the park. ・Explanation: This sentence describes the action of a child picking up a ball from the ground in the park. The focus is on the act of retrieving the object.

私は落としたペンを拾いました。 ・Translation: I picked up the pen I dropped. ・Explanation: This sentence shows the action of picking up something the speaker had previously dropped. The emphasis is on recovering the item that fell.

The kanji 拾 combines the "hand" radical (扌, tehen) with the character 合 (awasu, to join, to meet). The original meaning of 拾 was related to counting or gathering things together, as well as the meaning of "ten" as a small quantity. The word evolved to encompass the act of picking something up or gathering it, similar to "ten things." The verb 拾います originated from this meaning of collecting or bringing things together, eventually taking on the meaning of "picking up."