焼きます（やきます、yakimasu）
- to bake (transitive)

The Japanese verb 焼きます (yakimasu) primarily means "to grill," "to bake," "to roast," or "to broil." It refers to the process of cooking food using direct heat, often in an oven, on a grill, or over an open flame. It can also be used figuratively to describe the act of burning something. The meaning depends on the context of the sentence. The core concept is applying heat to change the food's state. It is a transitive verb, meaning it generally takes a direct object (the thing being grilled, baked, or roasted).

⚫︎ 魚を焼きます。 Translation: I'll grill the fish. ⚫︎ パンを焼きます。 Translation: I will bake bread. ⚫︎ お肉を焼きます。 Translation: I will roast the meat.

⚫︎ Use 焼きます when talking about cooking food with heat. ⚫︎ It is appropriate in a variety of contexts, from casual conversations at home to more formal discussions about cooking methods. ⚫︎ Pay attention to the surrounding words (the object being cooked) to understand the specific cooking method intended. ⚫︎ When talking about food, the particle を (o) often follows the food item being cooked. For example, パンを焼きます ⚫︎ This verb can be used to describe the act of burning something else, such as trash, as well.

⚫︎ Typically written in hiragana as やきます. ⚫︎ The kanji is 焼, and the full form is 焼きます. ⚫︎ The okurigana (the hiragana that follows the kanji) is きます (kimasu). The stem is 焼. ⚫︎ Variations include the polite form 焼きます (yakimasu) and the plain form 焼く (yaku). ⚫︎ Related forms include: 焼かない (yakanai - will not grill/bake/roast), 焼いた (yaita - grilled/baked/roasted), and 焼けば (yakeba - if you grill/bake/roast).

⚫︎ 炙ります (aburimasu) - to broil, to grill (often over an open flame, slightly charred). ⚫︎ 焙ります (irimasu) - to roast (used more for dry roasting, such as coffee beans). ⚫︎ 炒めます (itamemasu) - to stir-fry (related, as it uses heat, but with different cooking methods)

⚫︎ There is no single direct antonym. The opposite of "cooking with heat" would be something like "eating raw," but it's not a direct antonym for 焼きます itself.

オーブンでクッキーを焼きます。 ・Translation: I bake cookies in the oven. ・Explanation: This sentence uses 焼きます to describe the act of baking cookies in an oven. The particle で (de) indicates where the action takes place.

庭でバーベキューをして、肉を焼きます。 ・Translation: We'll have a barbecue in the garden and grill some meat. ・Explanation: This sentence uses 焼きます to explain that the act of grilling the meat. The word バーベキュー (bābekyū - barbecue) indicates what type of cooking is going on.

⚫︎ The verb 焼く is of native Japanese origin. ⚫︎ The kanji 焼 is a phono-semantic compound. ⚫︎ The phonetic component is 炎 (honoo - flame). ⚫︎ The semantic component is 火 (hi - fire). ⚫︎ This composition indicates the word is related to using fire to heat things.