何の言葉15 そろえる

Hi!

Today’s word is related to Japanese customary love for organizing things. I think we all have felt how important organizing is in Japanese culture through watching or hearing about Marie Kondo (and its life-changing magic).

As you may know, one of Japan’s “etiquette” includes taking of their shoes and arranging their shoes neatly in the hallway/entrance of the house also known as 玄関 (genkan).

📖 Random side story: I didn’t expect for some restaurants or shops to have this rule of taking off your shoes. So when I accidentally stepped with my shoes on, there was a sudden panic on the shopkeeper’s face like this → 😱 and I had to quickly jump out of the no-shoe-zone (this happened in a restaurant and kimono rental shop..). To avoid the same situation from repeating, I started keeping an eye out for any shoes that were arranged neatly in the corner. 👞👞

Talking about the shoe etiquette in Japan, today’s word is…

What does そろえる mean?

When thinking of the word そろえる (soroeru), what pops up in our head is “things lined up neatly in a row, such as a row of books, shops … ducks?” 🐤🐤🐤

With this in mind, let’s look at 3 ways you can use そろえる:

1. Arrange in the same direction neatly and in order

   It can refer to:

   ・Line up or arrange some things neatly, in order

   ・Put some things close and in the same direction

   ・Make the edges of some things precisely together

For example,

・紙の端をそろえる (kami no hashi wo soroeru) = align the edge of the pages

・靴をそろえる (kutsu wo soroeru) = place shoes side-by-side

・テキストを左にそろえる (tekisuto wo hidari ni soroeru) = align text to left

The most frequently used phrase is maybe 靴をそろえる👢. This is one of very important manners that we were taught by our parents repeatedly.

2. Make (colours, size, opinions, timing, etc) the same / uniform / match

For example:

・枝の長さをそろえる (eda no nagasa wo soroeru) = adjust the length of the branches

・食器の色をそろえる (shouki no iro wo soroeru) = match the tableware colours

・意見をそろえる (iken wo soroeru) = agree on opinion

・タイミングをそろえる。 (taimingu wo soroeru) = match the timing

・コップの向きをそろえる (muki wo soroeru) = arrange cups to face the same direction

3. Gather or collect what is necessary to complete a series

・書類をそろえる (shorui wo soroeru) = gather (necessary) documents
・コレクションをそろえる (collection wo soroeru) = assemble a collection
・楽器をそろえる (gakki wo soroeru) = collect musical instruments
・ハリーポッターの全巻をそろえる。 (harii pottaa no zenkan wo soroeru) = Collect the Harry Potter book series.

In shops, stores, departments, they often say

「様々な商品をそろえています。」
“We have a variety of products available.”

How to write そろえる in kanji:

In kanji, it is written as 揃える but normally written in hiragana in daily conversation. (But for compound words eg. 品揃え (shinazoroe), it’s almost always written in kanji.)

Similar English phrases:

“align”
“arrange”
“match”

 💡 Hey, we’re twinning today! 🎎

There is a word that is often used おそろい (osoroi) which comes from the second meaning of そろえる. It means “twinning” or “matching”.

In Japan, so many trending words which have the same meaning as おそろい, like ペアルック、おそろ、双子コーデ、リンクコーデ… But some of these words are already too old for the current generation and out-of-trend, so it can be awkward to use these kind of slangs and expressions. So, おそろい is the safest option as for now 😆

１．靴を脱いだら、そろえなさい。
 Arrange your shoes side-by-side after you take them off.

２．家の全てのものをMUJIでそろえるのが私の夢。
　　My dream is to decorate my whole house with MUJI.

３．申し込みに必要な書類は、全部そろえたはず。
 I think I have gathered all of the required documents for the application.

４．あの店は、いつも新鮮な魚をそろえている。
　　That store is always stocked with rows of fresh fish.

Similar Japanese phrases:

並べる
同じにする
集める