表します（あらわします、arawashimasu）
- to express

The Japanese word 表します (あらわします, arawashimasu) means "to express," "to show," "to represent," or "to reveal." It signifies making something known or visible, often through words, actions, or a visual representation. It can also imply bringing something to the surface or making something clear.

⚫︎ 気持ちを表します Translation: Express your feelings. ⚫︎ 意見を表します Translation: To express an opinion. ⚫︎ グラフで結果を表します Translation: Represent the results with a graph.

⚫︎You can use 表します in various contexts where you want to communicate or demonstrate something. ⚫︎It's suitable for formal and informal situations, though the level of politeness can be adjusted by changing the conjugation (e.g., 表します, 表しましょう, 表してください). ⚫︎It's used when you want to show or explain something about yourself, your thoughts, feelings, or data.

⚫︎The base form of this verb is 表す (あらわす, arawasu). ⚫︎The polite form, as used in the prompt, is 表します (あらわします, arawashimasu), which includes the polite verb suffix ます. ⚫︎It's written with the kanji 表 (hyō, omote, arawa(su)) and the hiragana します. The kanji 表means "surface," "face," or "expression." ⚫︎Variations in okurigana (the suffix hiragana) can appear depending on the conjugation.

⚫︎ 表現します (ひょうげんします, hyōgen shimasu) – to express, to represent ⚫︎ 示します (しめします, shimesu) – to show, to indicate ⚫︎ 見せます (みせます, misemasu) – to show (can be more casual) ⚫︎ 伝える (つたえる, tsutaeru) - to convey, to communicate

⚫︎ Depending on the context, there isn't a single perfect antonym. Words like: ⚫︎ 隠します (かくします, kakushimasu) – to hide, to conceal ⚫︎ 秘めます (ひめます, himemasu) – to conceal, to keep secret

彼は自分の感謝の気持ちを言葉で表しました。 ・Translation: He expressed his feelings of gratitude in words. ・Explanation: This sentence describes how someone communicated their gratitude using language. The past tense 表しましたis used here.

この図は、世界の人口増加を表しています。 ・Translation: This graph shows the increase in the world's population. ・Explanation: This sentence is using the -て form of the verb. It explains that the graph is representing the world population.

The kanji 表 originally depicts the outside of something, or the surface. The verb 表す (arawasu) evolved to convey the idea of making something visible or known, which extends to "showing," "representing," and "expressing." The addition of the polite suffix ます to create 表しますis a common grammatical feature in Japanese.