ぬかるむ has the definition of "to be muddy" in my dictionary, but it is a verb.
Furthermore, all the examples use it before a noun, as opposed to saying
丘はぬかるむ. Is it correct to say this? Why is ぬかるむ a verb, and not an adjective,
or rather can someone explain the possible mentality that went into ascribing
the characteristic of being muddy to being a verb as opposed to an adjective?
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2013-10-10T00:37:39.363
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2019-07-18T04:49:50.453
question
grammar
ぬかるむ Meaning and Use
When you try to walk on a muddy road, the mud makes it difficult to walk
across. In other words, the muddy road is bothering you. ぬかるむ is a word
implicitly meaning "directly bothering".

Because hills do not directly bother you (maybe the road is what it's directly
bothering), 丘はぬかるむ is grammatically correct, but is a strange expression.
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2013-10-10T05:30:23.280
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2013-10-10T05:30:23.280
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I think the translation "to be muddy" is slightly inaccurate. First of all,
ぬかるむ is a dynamic verb. Probably, "to become muddy" would be better.

A dynamic verb is a verb which describes a change. Japanese verbs tend to be
dynamic comparing to English.

For example, "have" and "know" are stative verbs in English. They describe a
certain state. However, 持つ and 知る are dynamic. See: [How should I choose
between [知]{し}る and
わかる?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/1659/how-should-i-choose-
between-%e7%9f%a5%e3%81%97%e3%82%8b-and-%e3%82%8f%e3%81%8b%e3%82%8b/21016#21016)

Just like that, ぬかるむ means a change from ぬかるんでいない to ぬかるんでいる.

So, 「春来たりて、雪は融け、丘はぬかるむ」(Note: 春来たりて sounds old.) means "The spring has come,
the snow melts, and the hill becomes muddy."

It is not "The hill is muddy." If you want to say so, you have to say ぬかるんでいる
"to have become muddy (= to be muddy)."

Back to your question, the reason why ぬかるむ is often used before a noun is that
it takes a long time to ぬかるむ. It is easier to make a sentence which uses ぬかるむ
as a phenomenon that often happens. For example, "ぬかるむ道" means "a road which
often becomes muddy."
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answer