1.
to line up in a single row; to form a single line / queue
A standard expression for people or things arranging themselves in one line. Frequently used as an instruction in schools, ticket queues, and public transit, and to describe orderly formations.
一列に並んでください。
Please line up in a single file.
子供たちが一列に並んで歩いている。
The children are walking in a single line.
改札の前では一列に並んでお待ちください。
Please wait in a single line in front of the ticket gate.
店の前にお客さんが一列に並んで、開店を待っていた。
Customers were lined up single-file in front of the shop, waiting for it to open.
Formed from 一列 ('one row, one line') + に (target particle) + 並ぶ ('to be lined up, to stand in a row'). The に marks the configuration the subject arranges into.
USAGE:
- Standard instruction in schools, theme parks, polling stations, train platforms, and anywhere orderly queuing is expected.
- Used both for people queuing (front-to-back) and for objects arranged side by side in one row.
- The causative/transitive version — arranging things in a line — is 一列に並べる.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 一列に並んでください: please line up in one line
- 一列に並んで待つ: to wait in a single line
- 一列に並んで歩く: to walk in single file
- 一列に並べる: to arrange [things] in a single line (transitive)
- きれいに一列に並ぶ: to line up neatly in a single row
RELATED EXPRESSIONS:
- 二列に並ぶ: to line up in two rows
- 縦一列に並ぶ: to line up in a single vertical (front-to-back) line
- 横一列に並ぶ: to line up in a single horizontal row (side by side)
- 順番に並ぶ: to line up in order / take turns in line
- 列を作る: to form a line / queue
TRANSITIVITY NOTE:
- 並ぶ is intransitive — the subject is what forms the line.
- 並べる is the transitive pair — used when someone actively arranges objects: 本を一列に並べた ('I lined up the books in a single row').