腹が減る

Japanese
Kanji in this term
腹 減
はら
Grade: 6		 へ
Grade: 5
kun’yomi

Etymology

Phrase composed of 腹 (hara, “belly, stomach”) +‎ が (ga, subject particle) +‎ 減る (heru, “decreases, shrinks”).

Pronunciation

Verb

腹が減る (godan conjugation, hiragana はらがへる, rōmaji hara ga heru)

  1. (idiomatic) to get hungry
    • 1905, Natsume Sōseki, I am a Cat‎:
      :
      腹 (はら)が非 (ひ)常 (じょう)に減 (へ)って来 (き)た。
      Hara ga hijō ni hette kita.
      I started to get extremely hungry.

Usage notes

The phrase hara ga heru is generally considered somewhat more informal than the synonymous phrase お腹 (なか)が空 (す)く (onaka ga suku). When in mixed company, the polite perfective form onaka ga sukimashita may be heard more often.

This phenomenon may be somewhat similar to the convention in some English-speaking communities of avoiding direct discussion of body parts. The term hara means “belly, stomach”, whereas the term onaka refers more indirectly to one's “insides”.

Conjugation
Conjugation of "腹が減る" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
Stem forms
Imperfective (未然形) 腹が減ら はらがへら hara ga hera
Continuative (連用形) 腹が減り はらがへり hara ga heri
Terminal (終止形) 腹が減る はらがへる hara ga heru
Attributive (連体形) 腹が減る はらがへる hara ga heru
Hypothetical (仮定形) 腹が減れ はらがへれ hara ga here
Imperative (命令形) 腹が減れ はらがへれ hara ga here
Key constructions
Passive 腹が減られる はらがへられる hara ga herareru
Causative 腹が減らせる
腹が減らす		 はらがへらせる
はらがへらす		 hara ga heraseru
hara ga herasu
Potential 腹が減れる はらがへれる hara ga hereru
Volitional 腹が減ろう はらがへろう hara ga herō
Negative 腹が減らない はらがへらない hara ga heranai
Negative continuative 腹が減らず はらがへらず hara ga herazu
Formal 腹が減ります はらがへります hara ga herimasu
Perfective 腹が減った はらがへった hara ga hetta
Conjunctive 腹が減って はらがへって hara ga hette
Hypothetical conditional 腹が減れば はらがへれば hara ga hereba

Idioms
  • 腹 (はら)が減 (へ)っては戦 (いくさ)ができぬ (hara ga hette wa ikusa ga dekinu): “one cannot do battle on an empty belly”

Synonyms
  • 御中 (おなか)が空 (す)く (onaka ga suku): one's insides become empty → to get hungry
  • 御中 (おなか)が減 (へ)る (onaka ga heru): one's insides shrink → to get hungry
  • 腹 (はら)が空 (す)く (hara ga suku): one's belly becomes empty → to get hungry
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