To Lift Something
To Raise Something, To Increase Something
transitive verb, ichidan verb
This word consists of kanji with hiragana attached. Because the hiragana ends with an う sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means above and this verb is related to that meaning. It means to lift something or to raise something. It's a transitive verb, meaning that you do something to something else. You raise something. Like your hands!
Since this word has okurigana (hiragana attached to the kanji) you know that it's probably going to use the kun'yomi reading, which you didn't learn with the kanji. Here's a mnemonic to help you:
You want to lift something, and that something is aardvark (あ) above your head. Why? Because even though aardvarks have long tongues, they can't reach the ants in the trees. But when you raise this aardvark it can get at those yummy ants!
レベルを上げる
to raise the level
モチベーションを上げる
to increase motivation
スピードを上げる
to increase speed
大きいブランケットをロフトに上げる。
I lift a large blanket up to the loft.
「スピーカーのボリューム、上げる？」「うん。」
"Should I turn up the volume on the speaker?" "Yeah."
ピカチュウのレベルを上げるには、どうしたらいいですか？
What can I do to raise Pikachu's level?