辞めます（やめます、yamemasu）
- to quit

The Japanese verb 辞めます (やめます) primarily means "to quit," "to resign," "to stop," or "to give up." It conveys the act of ceasing an activity, a job, a habit, or a relationship. The specific nuance depends on the context of the sentence. It suggests a voluntary decision to end something. The base form of this verb is 辞める (やめる). ⚫︎ It's important to differentiate this from related verbs like 止める (とめる) which also means "to stop" but in a more active sense of stopping something else.

⚫︎ 仕事を辞めます。 Translation: I'm quitting my job. ⚫︎ タバコを辞めます。 Translation: I'm quitting smoking. ⚫︎ 大学を辞めます。 Translation: I'm dropping out of university/college. ⚫︎ チームを辞めます。 Translation: I am quitting the team.

⚫︎ 辞めます is a polite and commonly used form. It is the -ます form of 辞める. ⚫︎ It is appropriate to use it in various situations, from formal to informal, especially when you are speaking with someone you don't know well or with a superior. ⚫︎ To make it even more polite, you can use 辞めさせていただきます. ⚫︎ When speaking with friends or family, you may use the plain form: 辞める. ⚫︎ When speaking about oneself, the verb is usually in first-person perspective. ⚫︎ The tense and context will determine which form to use: ⚫︎ Present/Future: 辞めます ⚫︎ Past: 辞めました (I quit/resigned/stopped) ⚫︎ Present continuous: 辞めています (I am quitting/resigning/stopping) ⚫︎ Te-form: 辞めて (used to join verbs) ⚫︎ The verb can be used in a negative form (e.g., 辞めません - I won't quit)

⚫︎ The word is typically written as 辞めます. ⚫︎ 辞 is the kanji, and めます is the hiragana suffix. ⚫︎ The verb stem is 辞め, and the okurigana is ます. ⚫︎ The okurigana is fixed. ⚫︎ 辞める (やめる) is the dictionary form (plain form). ⚫︎ 辞めました (やめました) is the past tense polite form. ⚫︎ 辞めない (やめない) is the present negative form. ⚫︎ 辞めなかった (やめなかった) is the past negative form. ⚫︎ You cannot write this word in katakana.

⚫︎ 退職します (たいしょくします) - to retire/resign from a company (formal) ⚫︎ やめる (plain form of 辞める) - to quit/stop/give up (informal) ⚫︎ 放棄する (ほうきする) - to abandon/renounce (more formal, often used with something abstract) ⚫︎ 中止する (ちゅうしする) - to cancel/suspend (to stop something, often an event)

⚫︎ 始める (はじめる) - to start/begin ⚫︎ 続ける (つづける) - to continue ⚫︎ 参加する (さんかする) - to participate/join

来月、今の会社を辞めます。 ・Translation: I will quit my current company next month. ・Explanation: This sentence uses the future tense to indicate the speaker's intention to leave their job. The use of 辞めます implies a relatively formal or polite context.

もうタバコを辞めました。 ・Translation: I have already quit smoking. ・Explanation: The past tense, 辞めました, signifies that the action of quitting has already been completed. This is a statement of fact.

The kanji 辞 (ji) originally meant "to decline" or "to refuse". The addition of the hiragana める formed the verb meaning "to resign," "to stop," or "to give up". The origin of 辞める is from classical Japanese. The word itself is a combination of kanji and hiragana that evolved over time to its present meaning.