変える
ka-e-ru
A hand reaches in and swaps it
The picture A hand reaches in, takes away what is sitting there, and sets something else in the same place. 変える is a hand making it different; 変わる is it having gone different with no hand in sight.
Where the picture shows up in 変える
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Writing over what is written
約束の時間を変えてもいいですか。
yakusoku no jikan o kaete mo ii desu ka
Could we change the time we agreed on?
The time in the notebook is rubbed out and another time is written on that same line.
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Moving a thing's place
部屋の家具の場所を変えました。
heya no kagu no basho o kae-mashita
I changed where the furniture goes.
The wardrobe is pushed away from the window and set against the opposite wall.
場所を変える is putting the same object in a different place.
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Laying on a new surface
髪の色を変えたいです。
kami no iro o kae-tai desu
I want to change my hair color.
In front of the mirror, another color goes on over the black hair.
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Swapping the conclusion
考えを変えるつもりはありません。
kangae o kaeru tsumori wa ari-masen
I have no intention of changing my mind.
Two hands press down on the conclusion sitting in the mind and refuse to lift it off.
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Swapping the sequence
やり方を変えたら早くなりました。
yari-kata o kaetara hayaku nari-mashita
Once I changed the method, it got faster.
One card is pulled out of the work sequence and another card is slotted into the gap.
All of it in one picture
変える is one picture: a hand swaps what sits in the slot. Rub out the written time and write another and you have changed the appointment; push the wardrobe to the opposite wall and you have changed its place; lay another color over your hair and you have dyed it; lift the conclusion off your mind and set another one down and you have changed your mind; pull one card out of the sequence and slot another in and you have changed the method. The hand is always there in the sentence.