Hi, so I was watching a short story video in Japanese and came across the word 気がつく, which is defined as “to notice, to realize”, but it was used in a situation where the person was originally under a false assumption, then they realized the truth. There was a thief who was riding an animal at night and thought it was a horse, but when the sun came up, he realized it was a wolf. Does this word carry that nuance or can it be used in general for noticing something like “I noticed his shirt was blue”.
Thanks!
2 comments
Yeah it’s the same thing in both scenarios, you ‘noticed’ or became aware of something that you didn’t before.
You can use 気がつく as to notice, ti realize and to recognize 🙂
Like…
LINEの通知(つうち)がミュートになっていたことに今(いま)気(き)がついた。
I just noticed that my LINE notifications had been muted now.
私(わたし)は彼(かれ)が優しさ(やさしさ)から嘘(うそ)をついたのだと気(き)がついた。
I realized he had lied out of kindness.
私(わたし)は彼女(かのじょ)の声(こえ)を聞いて(きいて)初めて(はじめて)、彼女(かのじょ)が昔(むかし)同じ(おなじ)クラスにいて引っ越して(ひっこして)しまったクラスメイトだと気(き)がついた。
It was only when I heard her voice that I recognized she was a classmate who used to be in the same class with me and had moved away.