To Lose

by Nao

ushina-u, shitsu

The verb “ushinau” means to lose something in the sense that you don’t have it any more. The verb “nakusu” also means to lose something but use ushinau when you lose something abstract and particularly important. When you say, “okane wo nakushita,” meaning that you lost money, we can’t tell whether you lost something important. (Nakushita is the past tense of nakusu.) It just tells us that you lost money. On the other hand, if you say, “okane wo ushinatta,” meaning that you lost money, it tells us that you lost something important to your life. (Ushinatta is the past tense of ushinau.)

When somebody becomes too shocked to speak, we describe the situation as “kotoba wo ushinau.” You can say, “watashi wa kotoba wo ushinatta” meaning that you were not able to speak because you were shocked or appalled.

With the word “ushinau,” people might lose their sanity, reputation, confidence, etc.

• “Syō ki wo ushinau” means to become insane.
• “Shinrai wo ushinau” means to lose one’s credibility.
• “Jishin wo ushinau” means to lose confidence.

You can replace ushinau in the above sentences with nakusu, but you can’t do it with the phrase “ki wo ushinau” meaning to be passed out. It’s an idiom.

In general, you can replace ushinau with nakusu, but you can’t always do the other way around.

1. Draw the sweeping stroke in the upper left corner of the character.
2. Draw the shorter horizontal line touching the first stroke.
3. Draw the longer horizontal line from the left to the right.
4. Draw the sweeping stroke from the top to the lower left corner of the character. Make the line thinner gradually.
5. Draw the sweeping stroke from where the previous strokes intersect. Change the direction slightly before you finish and make a bolder end.