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追い付く

おいつく

to catch up (with), to overtake, to keep up

By Nihongo PathUpdated

Examples

  1. 兄に追い付くために走った。

    あににおいつくためにはしった。

    I ran to catch up with my older brother.

  2. 急げば、まだ追い付けるよ。

    いそげば、まだおいつけるよ。

    If we hurry, we can still catch up.

  3. 休んでいた分、みんなに追い付くのに一か月かかった。

    やすんでいたぶん、みんなにおいつくのにいっかげつかかった。

    Because I had been absent, it took me a month to catch up with everyone.

  4. 注文が多すぎて、作るのが追い付かない。

    ちゅうもんがおおすぎて、つくるのがおいつかない。

    There are so many orders that we can't keep up with making them.

Common patterns

先頭に追い付く
to catch up with the leader
追い付いて追い越す
to catch up and then overtake
仕事が追い付かない
to be unable to keep up with the work

Memory tip

追う (chase) + 付く (stick to) — chase until you are stuck to them. The thing you catch up with takes に: 彼に追い付く. Negative 追い付かない often means "can't keep up" with work or demand.

Kanji in this word

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What does 追い付く mean?