# 覗く



## Happysoul

Hello!
I'm trying to learn the use of the verb 覗く. However, in each website that I consult it is indicated that 覗く is used for a different case than the one said on the previous website, so I am a little confused.

Some of the cases I have read are these:

1) See things you shouldn't see, like someone else's diary.
2) See things quickly and stealthily
3) See things that are in a lower position than your eyes.
4) See things through an instrument, such as a telescope.
5) See things through narrow gaps.
6) See things through windows.
etc.

In the end, with so many different cases and no single uniform criteria, I feel like I don't really know when to use 覗く.

Do Japanese people normally use 覗く in all these cases or do they usually use 覗く only for one or two of them and for the rest they tend to use 見る?

Could you give me example sentences with the most common uses of 覗く by Japanese people?


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## SoLaTiDoberman

夫のスマホを覗き見て、不倫の証拠をつかんだ。1
マーシーは女性のスカートの中を覗き見て、警察に逮捕された。2，3
顕微鏡を覗いてみても、SIRS-Cov2 ウイルスは見えない。4
戸の隙間から中を覗いたら、二匹の動物がいた。５
窓越しにレストランの中を覗いてみたが、誰も客は入っていなかった。6


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## gengo

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> 夫のスマホを覗き見て、不倫の証拠をつかんだ。1
> マーシーは女性のスカートの中を覗き見て、警察に逮捕された。2，3
> 顕微鏡を覗いてみても、SIRS-Cov2 ウイルスは見えない。4
> 戸の隙間から中を覗いたら、二匹の動物がいた。５
> 窓越しにレストランの中を覗いてみたが、誰も客は入っていなかった。6



Happysoul, por si te ayuda, te pongo mis traducciones de las oraciones dadas por SoLa.

I looked through my husband's phone and found evidence that he was cheating on me.
Marcy was arrested by the police for looking up the skirts of women.
The S*A*RS-Co*V-*2 virus cannot be seen even under a microscope.
He looked through the door gap, and there were two animals [outside].
She peered through the restaurant window, but there were no customers inside.


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## Happysoul

SoLaTiDoberman - Thank you so much for the sentences! 

Then, could I say that 覗く is only used for cases 4, 5 and 6, whereas for cases 1, 2 and 3 it is needed a derivated form of 覗く like the one you used: 覗き見る?

gengo - Thank you so much for your translation of the sentences! It has helped me a lot to understand them better.


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## Happysoul

Does the verb 覗く convey or is it understood under a general idea by which all the cases in which 覗く can be used can be known logically, quickly and naturally without having to memorize them one by one?


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## gengo

Happysoul said:


> Does the verb 覗く convey or is it understood under a general idea by which all the cases in which 覗く can be used can be known logically, quickly and naturally without having to memorize them one by one?



This is only a very general "rule," but I'd say that 覗く conveys the nuance of "to look into" (mirar adentro).  That basic idea can be expanded to include things such as "to peek" and so forth.  You can see that that basic idea is applicable to all five of SoLa's example sentences, in a general sense.  Still, you'll have to memorize the situations in which that idea fits in Japanese.  Naturally, 見る is used far more often than 覗く, so there aren't as many situations to memorize.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> 顕微鏡を覗いてみても、S*I*RS-Co*v*2 ウイルスは見えない。4
> 戸の隙間から*中を*覗いたら、二匹の動物がいた。５





gengo said:


> The S*A*RS-Co*V-*2 virus cannot be seen even under a microscope.
> He looked through the door gap, and there were two animals *[outside].*


Thank you for the correction of the spelling of the novice coronavirus, which is not "novice" anymore.
And definitely, the "outside" is the typo for "inside."
I was inspired to make sentence 5 by the popular novel Ningen-shikkaku by Osamu Dazai, and in that context, the two animals were a female human and a male human, having sexual intercourse.


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## gengo

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> And definitely, the "outside" is the typo for "inside."
> I was inspired to make sentence 5 by the popular novel Ningen-shikkaku by Osamu Dazai, and in that context, the two animals were a female human and a male human, having sexual intercourse.



Ah, I wasn't aware of the source.  Thanks.  But my "outside" wasn't a typo, as I was imagining someone standing inside their house and looking at real animals outside.  It depends on the perspective, and whether the subject is looking inside or outside.  That's why I put the word in brackets.


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## SoLaTiDoberman

I disagree with you from the viewpoint of grammar though.

戸の隙間から*中を*覗いたら、二匹の動物がいた。[inside]
戸の隙間から*外を*覗いたら、二匹の動物がいた。[outside]
戸の隙間を通して*外から*覗いたら、二匹の動物がいた。[inside]
戸の隙間を通して*中から*覗いたら、二匹の動物がいた。[outside]
戸の隙間から覗いたら、二匹の動物がいた。[whichever]
The bold parts are clear indicators of which.


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## gengo

SoLaTiDoberman said:


> I disagree with you from the viewpoint of grammar though.
> 
> 戸の隙間から*中を*覗いたら、二匹の動物がいた。[inside]



おぉ、本当です！すっかりその「中」を見過ごしてしまいましたね。それでは、納得。


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## SoLaTiDoberman

家の中に2匹の動物がいる、そして実は「動物」というのはナニをしているヒトの暗喩表現である、というのは、その小説を知らないひとにとっては絶対に頭に浮かばない文脈だと思いますので、例文が不適切でした。
「覗く」という動詞のニュアンスを伝えるという点においては「人間失格」の例のくだりが、恰好の例文だと思ったのですが、原典では「小窓」から覗くのを「戸の隙間」から覗くに改変したので、出典を書きませんでした。「人間失格から一部改変して引用」と書くべきだったかな？


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