溶けます（とけます、tokemasu）
- to melt

The Japanese word 溶けます (読み方：とけます) primarily means "to melt," "to dissolve," or "to liquefy." It describes the process where a solid changes into a liquid or when a substance disperses into a liquid. It implies a change in state due to heat, mixing, or a chemical reaction. The core concept is something losing its solid form and becoming part of a liquid. The word carries a sense of transformation and often implies that the original form disappears or is altered.

⚫︎ チョコレートが溶けます。 Translation: The chocolate melts. ⚫︎ 砂糖が水に溶けます。 Translation: The sugar dissolves in water. ⚫︎ 氷が溶けます。 Translation: The ice melts.

溶けます is used in various contexts, from describing physical processes like melting ice to chemical reactions like dissolving sugar in coffee. It is a versatile verb used to describe how solids change state into liquids. The use of 溶けます would be when talking about the state of something, that it's in the process of melting, or dissolving. It is the polite, present tense form of the verb 溶ける (to melt/dissolve).

⚫︎ This word is typically written as 溶けます in hiragana and kanji. ⚫︎ The kanji is 溶. ⚫︎ The stem of the verb is 溶け. ⚫︎ The suffix hiragana, ます (masu) indicates polite, present tense. ⚫︎ The okurigana (the suffix hiragana) is standard. ⚫︎ The base verb is 溶ける (tokeru).

⚫︎ 融ける (tokeru) - More formal synonym for "to melt" or "to fuse." ⚫︎ 解ける (tokeru) - This word also can mean "to dissolve" but is also used for solving something. ⚫︎ 溶かす (tokasu) - The causative form of 溶ける, meaning "to melt something" or "to dissolve something."

⚫︎ 固まる (katamaru) - to solidify, to harden. ⚫︎ 凝固する (gyoukosuru) - to solidify, to congeal (more formal).

夏になると、アイスクリームがすぐに溶けますね。 ・Translation: When summer comes, ice cream melts quickly, doesn't it? ・Explanation: This sentence describes the melting of ice cream in the summer heat.

塩は水に溶け、見えなくなります。 ・Translation: Salt dissolves in water and disappears from view. ・Explanation: This describes the disappearance of salt when it dissolves in water.

The etymology of 溶けます stems from the verb 溶ける (tokeru), which is composed of the kanji 溶, meaning "to melt" or "to dissolve." The kanji 溶 itself is composed of two parts: 水 (mizu), meaning "water" and 容 (you), meaning "to contain" or "appearance." Therefore, 溶ける conceptually represents something being incorporated into water or changing its form and appearance into a liquid state. The suffix ます(masu)is simply a marker of polite form.