隠れます（かくれます、kakuremasu）
- to hide oneself

The Japanese verb 隠れます (kakuremasu) means "to hide," "to be hidden," or "to conceal oneself." It describes the action of something or someone becoming unseen, either by their own action or due to external factors. It can apply to people, objects, or even abstract concepts like feelings. The meaning includes hiding physically, hiding information, or being obscured from view. It's often used transitively, meaning someone *does* the hiding.

⚫︎ 子供はテーブルの下に隠れました。 Translation: The child hid under the table. ⚫︎ 太陽は雲に隠れました。 Translation: The sun was hidden by the clouds. ⚫︎ 彼は自分の秘密を隠しました。 Translation: He hid his secret.

⚫︎ This verb is used in various situations where something becomes unseen. ⚫︎ It can describe a person hiding from another person, an object being concealed, or even a feeling being suppressed. ⚫︎ Pay attention to the context to understand exactly *what* is being hidden and *how*. ⚫︎ It's a versatile verb useful in many daily conversation scenarios. ⚫︎ Use it when you want to express the idea of something going out of sight, being obscured, or hidden away.

⚫︎ 隠れます is typically written in kanji as 隠れます, but also can be written in hiragana かくれます. ⚫︎ The base form is 隠れる (kakureru). ⚫︎ The polite form is 隠れます (kakuremasu). ⚫︎ The past tense is 隠れました (kakuremashita). ⚫︎ The potential form (can hide) is 隠れられます (kakureraremasu) or 隠れることができます (kakureru koto ga dekimasu). ⚫︎ The okurigana (hiragana following the kanji) is always "れます".

⚫︎ 隠す (kakusu) - to hide (something), to conceal (something) - This is a transitive verb, meaning it requires a direct object. ⚫︎ 潜む (hisomu) - to lurk, to hide (in a place) - Often implies a stealthy hiding, or a hiding with the intention of doing something. ⚫︎ 秘める (himeru) - to keep secret, to conceal (feelings, secrets, etc.)

⚫︎ 現れる (arawareru) - to appear, to emerge ⚫︎ 出す (dasu) - to take out, to reveal (something) ⚫︎ 見せる (miseru) - to show, to reveal (something)

彼は壁の陰に隠れました。 ・Translation: He hid behind the wall. ・Explanation: This sentence describes the action of someone physically hiding themselves. The past tense 隠れました indicates that the action of hiding has already taken place.

秘密が隠れていたが、ついに明らかになった。 ・Translation: The secret had been hidden, but it finally came to light. ・Explanation: This sentence uses the passive form of 隠れ (kakureteita) to show that something was in a state of being hidden. Then, it contrasts this with a later event: revealing the secret.

The verb 隠れる (kakureru) is derived from the kanji 隠 (kaku), which means "to hide" or "to conceal." The suffix れる (reru) is an intransitive verb-forming suffix, which changes the verb to intransitive. Intransitive means that it does not take a direct object. In this case, 隠れる is the basic form and 隠れ (kakure-) is the verb stem, which is used in conjugations like 隠れます. The origin comes from the concept of making something unseen.