72663
I was trying to translate "May I pet the dog?", but I'm having trouble finding
what word means "to pet".

  * Looking it up on jisho.org I get **可愛がる** , but translating it back using various services gives me "can I love the dog?".
  * Trying Google Translate with some sample sentences, it either gives up and leaves "pet" in English in the middle of the Japanese text, or uses **飼う** , which from my understanding is to keep a pet, rather than to physically pet it.
  * Trying translate.com (which apparently uses Microsoft Translator) with a sample sentence, I get **ペットにする** , which I can't corroborate anywhere else.

So given these options:

犬を **可愛がって** もいいですか？

犬を **飼って** もいいですか？

犬を **ペットにして** もいいですか？

Are any of these correct? Which, if any, makes the most sense?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-22T08:01:36.033
72660
2021-09-18T13:04:32.817
35341
question
translation meaning verbs
Which verb means "to pet <an animal>"?
It's funny because my mother language is not English (or Japanese) and I
remember being very confused when I encountered for the fist time the English
verb "to pet".

Because it's so imprecise ! Do you want to touch the dog ? Stroke the dog ?
Play with the dog ? So it's the same in Japanese, "to pet" doesn't really
exist, you just state what you actually want to do :)

So the most common way would be :

撫でてもいいですか？ (to stroke)
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-22T08:34:27.863
72662
2019-10-22T08:34:27.863
33761
72660
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If the question "May I pet the dog?" means "May I stroke the dog gently?",
then none of the phrases you obtained from your sources look good.

「可愛{かわい}がる」 comes closest, but it is not really appropriate. The other two
「飼{か}う」 and 「ペットにする」 are simply out of the question. I will try to explain
these verb choices later.

My own recommendations as a Japanese-speaker would be:

> 「なでてもいいですか。」

> 「軽{かる}く（or ちょっと）なでてもいいですか。」

> 「なでさせてもらってもいいですか。」

The verb here is 「撫{な}でる」 ("to stroke gently"). We would not use 「犬を」 at the
beginning as it is **another person's dog**. Many of us would actually use
「ワンちゃんを」 instead. Using the plain 「犬」 in this situation could make you sound
fairly cold and/or indifferent.

If you and the dog-owner, however, have already exchanged some words about the
dog, you do not need to use an 「object + を」 at all. The dog-owner would
**not** think that you were wanting to pet him/her instead of the dog.
Japanese is a highly contextual language.

**The problems with the phrases you have found:**

「可愛がる」: A little too broad a word. It basically means " **to treat with
love/care** ". That is not quite the word you would want to use. It would make
the dog-owner wonder what exactly it was that you were wanting to do with
his/her dog.

「飼う」: That means " **to keep (an animal at your home)** ". In essence,
therefore, you would be saying "May I take your dog home with me?" You will
sound like the weirdest foreigner.

「ペットにする」: This means " **to make an animal one's own pet** ". It is just out
of the question as 「飼う」.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-22T08:39:28.157
72663
2021-09-18T13:04:32.817
2021-09-18T13:04:32.817
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answer
In addition to 撫でる and よしよしする (良し) there is いいこいいこする (from 良い子).

Also, there is a variant of 撫でる which is 撫ぜる. From that is derived the word
撫ぜ撫ぜ(する） (not to be confused with the 何故-derived なぜなぜ, as in なぜなぜ分析).

By the way, if the pet comes to you and rubs itself against you, that is すりすり.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-22T21:10:13.057
72679
2019-10-22T21:10:13.057
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72660
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