1.
to wake up; to open one's eyes
To transition from sleep to wakefulness.
朝6時に目を覚ました。
I woke up at 6 in the morning.
物音で目を覚��すことがある。
I sometimes wake up from a noise.
赤ちゃんが夜中に何度も目を覚ますので寝不足だ。
The baby wakes up many times during the night, so I'm sleep-deprived.
2.
to come to one's senses; to snap out of it
To realize the truth of a situation or abandon an illusion or misguided course of action.
いいかげん目を覚ませ。
Come to your senses already.
友人の言葉で目を覚��した。
My friend's words made me come to my senses.
失敗を経験してようやく目を覚まし、自分の甘さに気づいた。
After experiencing failure, I finally came to my senses and realized my own naiveté.
A common expression with both literal (waking up) and figurative (coming to one's senses) meanings. The verb 覚ます means "to awaken" (transitive), so 目を覚ます literally means "to awaken one's eyes."
GRAMMAR:
- Intransitive use: 目が覚める — to wake up (spontaneous; eyes open on their own)
- Transitive use: 目を覚ます — to wake (oneself) up / to awaken someone
- Causative: 目を覚まさせる — to make someone wake up / come to their senses
COMMON PATTERNS:
- 朝早く目を覚ます — to wake up early in the morning
- 〜で目を覚ます — to wake up because of ~
- いいかげん目を覚ませ — snap out of it already (imperative)
SIMILAR EXPRESSIONS:
- 起きる — to get up (more general; includes getting out of bed)
- 目覚める — to awaken (literary/formal equivalent)
- 我に返る — to come to oneself (figurative only; more dramatic)