合うeach other; with one another
After another verb, 合う means two or more people do it to each other: help each other, show each other, talk a thing over.
each other
My sister and I encouraged each other before the exam.
talking it over
The team talked the new project over several times.
How to form it
Verb ます-stem + 合う
話します → 話し合う. 合う takes the endings: 話し合った, 話し合いましょう. New ones are made freely, though not from every verb.
- Before it
- Something one person does to or for another: 助ける, 見せる, 教える, 励ます.
- Who
- Two or more people, named together (姉と私, みんなで) or with と: 友だちと話し合う. お互いに (each other) often comes along.
- Where you'll meet it
- Everywhere, in talk and in writing.
Ones you'll hear every day
These four are words in their own right. People also make new ones as they speak: 教え合う, 見せ合う, 褒め合う (praise each other).
話し合うtalk it over, discuss
We talked it over as a family and decided where to go.
More than chatting: there is something to settle.
助け合うhelp each other
When one of us is in trouble, let's help each other out.
知り合うget to know, meet
I met my wife in college.
English says "met". Someone you know is a 知り合い.
譲り合うgive way to each other, share
Please share the seats with one another.
An announcement on trains and buses.
Two things to know
It doesn't go on every verb
English can put "each other" after nearly any verb. 合う doesn't go that far. Two people who met simply 会った.
Not said: 私たちは
(We met each other at the station.)
駅で会った.
If you aren't sure of a verb, お互いに with the plain verb usually works: お互いに頑張りましょう (let's both do our best).
Side by side is 一緒に
With 合う, what each person does goes to the others.
The two of them were gazing at the sea together.
Side by side.
The two of them were gazing at each other.
Each looks at the other.
Close neighbours
同士N3
Names who the people are to each other: colleagues among themselves. It often comes with 合う.
People in the same department pooled their ideas.
Check yourself
1You and a friend watched a film. Which do you say?
Choose an answer to see why.
2"I met my husband at work."
夫とは
Choose an answer to see why.
More detail
似合う (to suit) and 間に合う (to be in time) have no "each other" in them.
That color suits you well.
In 付き合う the "each other" has faded: to go out with someone, or to keep them company.
Will you come shopping with me?
More sentences
It is when problems come up that helping one another matters most.
The students showed one another the answers they had written.
The two respected each other's views to the end.
At the meeting, let's all put our ideas forward without holding back.
Even when something goes wrong, you must not push the blame onto one another.