Stopping short of a confession with 言いかける
Vocabulary Explanation: Words ending in 掛ける
Ayumu walks Urushi home after asking if they could walk together for a while. At her door, she asks what he wanted, and he says he only wanted to walk with her. As he thanks her, he starts to say something, covers his mouth, and then says he enjoyed walking with the senpai he respects.
- うるし:
- 「なんか言いかけたろ 今！！」
- “You started to say something just now, didn't you!!”
Key Points
1言いかける, starting to say something
- 言う means to say. Here かける marks an action that started but didn’t finish, so 言いかける means to start to say something and break off.
- It often appears in questions like さっき何か言いかけた？ “Were you about to say something earlier?” Urushi’s version is far less calm.
2〜たろ, pressing for agreement
- 言いかけたろ is short for 言いかけただろう. The rising ろ demands that Ayumu admit it: “You did, didn’t you?”
3なんか and 今 in casual speech
- なんか is the casual form of なにか, “something”.
- 今 comes after the verb as an afterthought. In standard order it would be 今なんか言いかけたろ.
Vocabulary
なんか (Something)
なんか is a casual form of なにか, “something”. After a noun, it means “things like” or “someone like”, often looking down on it. It also means “kind of” or “somehow”.
言いかける (To start to say)
言いかける is to start to say something and then stop partway through.
今 (Now)
今 is the present moment, or these days.
See Also
- Vocabulary: Words ending in 掛ける
- Grammar: Presuming with 〜だろう and 〜でしょう
- Kanji: Now and the present with 今
それでも歩は寄せてくる © its respective creators. It is used here for educational commentary.