過ぎる

Japanese

Kanji in this term
過
す Grade: 5
kun'yomi

Etymology

From Old Japanese 過ぐ (sugu). First attested in the Kojiki of 712.

Likely cognate with 挿げる (sugeru, “to pass a hole through something”), 直ぐ (sugu, “straight through”, adverb).

Reconstructed as deriving from Proto-Japonic *sunk-oi-.

Development

Natural progression from Old and Classical Japanese 上二段活用 (kami nidan katsuyō, “upper bigrade conjugation”) verbs ending in -u to modern Japanese 上一段活用 (kami ichidan katsuyō, “upper monograde conjugation”) verbs ending in -iru.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) すぎる [sùgíꜜrù] (Nakadaka – [2])
• IPA^(key): [sɨɡʲiɾɯ̟]

• Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of 「過ぎる」

Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止形) Attributive (連体形)	過ぎる	すぎる	[sùgíꜜrù]
Imperative (命令形)	過ぎろ	すぎろ	[sùgíꜜrò]
Key constructions
Passive	過ぎられる	すぎられる	[sùgíráréꜜrù]
Causative	過ぎさせる	すぎさせる	[sùgísáséꜜrù]
Potential	過ぎられる	すぎられる	[sùgíráréꜜrù]
Volitional	過ぎよう	すぎよー	[sùgíyóꜜò]
Negative	過ぎない	すぎない	[sùgíꜜnàì]
Negative perfective	過ぎなかった	すぎなかった	[sùgíꜜnàkàttà]
Formal	過ぎます	すぎます	[sùgímáꜜsù]
Perfective	過ぎた	すぎた	[súꜜgìtà]
Conjunctive	過ぎて	すぎて	[súꜜgìtè]
Hypothetical conditional	過ぎれば	すぎれば	[sùgíꜜrèbà]

Verb

過(す)ぎる • (sugiru) intransitive ichidan (stem 過(す)ぎ (sugi), past 過(す)ぎた (sugita))

Japanese verb pair
active	過ごす
mediopassive	過ぎる

1. to pass by, to pass through; to go beyond

   あの子(こ)もおもちゃで遊(あそ)ぶ年(とし)は過(す)ぎるころだ。

   Ano ko mo omocha de asobu toshi wa sugiru koro da.

   He will soon be past playing with toys.

2. to elapse; to exceed

   あれから半年(はんとし)が過(す)ぎた。

   Are kara hantoshi ga sugita.

   Half a year had passed since it had happened.

3. to be excessive

   解釈違(かいしゃくちが)いが過(す)ぎる

   kaishaku chigai ga sugiru

   the difference in interpretation is too much

4. (auxiliary, used with verbs and adjectives) too, too much

   その靴(くつ)は高(たか)すぎる。

   Sono kutsu wa takasugiru.

   These shoes are too expensive.

   大(おお)きすぎるからトランクに入(はい)らないぞ。

   Ōkisugiru kara toranku ni hairanai zo.

   Dude, it isn't going to fit into the trunk because it's too big.

   あまり酒(さけ)を飲(の)み過(す)ぎるのは、危険(きけん)だ。

   Amari sake o nomisugiru no wa, kiken da.

   It is dangerous to drink too much.

5. (informal, used with nouns) Used for emphasis.

   誰(だれ)すぎる

   dare-sugiru

   literally who

Usage notes

• When used as an auxiliary, it is usually written in kana: すぎる (sugiru).
• Can also be attached to adjectives in some situations

• 遠(とお)すぎる (tōsugiru): to be too far away; to be beyond reach

• When すぎる (sugiru) is attached to the end of other verbs and adjectives, it denotes the meaning of "too much".
• (verbs) The verb is directly attached to the stem or the continuative form (連用形(れんようけい) (ren'yōkei)) of the verb:

  飲(の)みすぎる (nomisugiru); to drink too much

  食(た)べすぎる (tabesugiru); to eat too much

  寝(ね)すぎる (nesugiru); to sleep too much

• (na-adjectives) The verb is simply attached to the adjectives:

  静(しず)かすぎる (shizukasugiru); too quiet

• (i-adjectives) The last い (i) is removed before attaching the verb:

  大(おお)きすぎる (ōkisugiru); too big

  高(たか)すぎる (takasugiru); too expensive

Conjugation

Conjugation of "過ぎる" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	過ぎ	すぎ	sugi
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	過ぎ	すぎ	sugi
Shūshikei ("terminal")	過ぎる	すぎる	sugiru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	過ぎる	すぎる	sugiru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	過ぎれ	すぎれ	sugire
Meireikei ("imperative")	過ぎよ¹ 過ぎろ²	すぎよ¹ すぎろ²	sugiyo¹ sugiro²
Key constructions
Passive	過ぎられる	すぎられる	sugirareru
Causative	過ぎさせる 過ぎさす	すぎさせる すぎさす	sugisaseru sugisasu
Potential	過ぎられる 過ぎれる³	すぎられる すぎれる³	sugirareru sugireru³
Volitional	過ぎよう	すぎよう	sugiyō
Negative	過ぎない 過ぎぬ 過ぎん	すぎない すぎぬ すぎん	suginai suginu sugin
Negative continuative	過ぎず	すぎず	sugizu
Formal	過ぎます	すぎます	sugimasu
Perfective	過ぎた	すぎた	sugita
Conjunctive	過ぎて	すぎて	sugite
Hypothetical conditional	過ぎれば	すぎれば	sugireba
¹ Written imperative ² Spoken imperative ³ Colloquial potential

Related terms

• すぐ (sugu, “soon”)
• 真(ま)っ直(す)ぐ (massugu, “straight, directly”)