Hello,

even after trying several dictionaries, I am still puzzled about the difference between these three nouns/verbs. All of them seem to carry the meaning of "clean up" or "tidy up", but if there are three words, I gues there must be some subtile difference. Can anyone help?

Best regards,
Andreas

Dictionaries can be a nightmare with things like this. It's only when you actually see the words being used that things start to fall into place.

Try breaking them up this way and keep things simple:

きちんとする is for doing things 'right' or getting everything in nice neat piles.

整理する is to organise your stuff, including throwing away the things you were sure were going to come in handy one day or another.

掃除する is what I do on the weekends when my wife watches me get the vacuum cleaner out or scrub out the bathroom.

Does that help?

GreenAirth Wrote:Does that help?

That's great! Thank you very much!

You forgot 片付ける, to tidy up.