乾きます（かわきます、kawakimasu）
- to get dry

The Japanese verb 乾きます, read as かわきます, means "to dry" or "to become dry." It describes the process of something losing moisture and becoming free from liquid. It can be used for various objects and substances, ranging from clothes to your hair, or even the air. The subject of the verb is the thing that is drying. It is an intransitive verb, meaning it doesn't take a direct object.

⚫︎ 洗濯物が乾きました。 Translation: The laundry dried. ⚫︎ 髪が乾きましたか？ Translation: Did your hair dry? ⚫︎ 空気が乾いている。 Translation: The air is dry.

You can use 乾きます to describe the state of something becoming dry or having dried. It’s typically used for things that have absorbed water or liquid, such as clothes, dishes, or hair. You would use it to talk about something drying naturally, often because of exposure to air or sunlight.

乾きます is typically written in hiragana as かわきます. The kanji form is 乾きます. The okurigana (the suffix hiragana) is standard: 乾きます.

⚫︎ 乾燥する（かんそうする）: to dry (in a more general or formal sense, often used for drying processes or systems) ⚫︎ 干す（ほす）: to dry (usually used for drying things by hanging them outside, like clothes)

⚫︎ 濡れます（ぬれます）: to get wet ⚫︎ 湿る（しめる）: to become damp

洗濯物を外に干したら、すぐに乾きました。 ・Translation: When I hung the laundry outside, it dried quickly. ・Explanation: This sentence describes the action and result of drying laundry.

シャワーを浴びた後、髪の毛をドライヤーで乾かします。 ・Translation: After taking a shower, I dry my hair with a hair dryer. ・Explanation: This sentence describes the action of drying hair, using a different conjugation, indicating an action that someone performs.

The kanji 乾, which makes up part of 乾きます, has the meaning of "dry" or "to dry." The verb suffix きます indicates a verb related to a state of being or change. Combining them gives the meaning "to become dry."