彼は手を伸ばしてナイフを取ろうとしたが、とどかなかった。

he; him; his; boyfriend

topic marker particle; indicates contrast with another option (stated or unstated); adds emphasis

hand; arm; forepaw; foreleg; handle; hand; worker; help; trouble; care; effort; means; way; trick; move; technique; workmanship; hand; handwriting; kind; type; sort; one's hands; one's possession; ability to cope; hand (of cards); direction; move (in go, shogi, etc.)

indicates direct object of action; indicates subject of causative expression; indicates an area traversed; indicates time (period) over which action takes place; indicates point of departure or separation of action; indicates object of desire, like, hate, etc.

to grow long (e.g. hair, nails); to lengthen; to extend; to stretch; to reach out; to hold out; to straighten; to smooth out; to spread evenly (dough, cream, etc.); to dilute; to thin out; to postpone; to prolong; to strengthen; to develop; to expand

knife

to take; to pick up; to harvest; to earn; to win; to choose; to steal; to eat; to have (a meal); to remove (one's glasses, etc.); to compete (in sumo, cards, etc.); to play

if; when; and; with; particle used for quoting (with speech, thoughts, etc.); quoting particle; promoted pawn; indicates question (sentence end)

to do; to cause to become; to make (into); to turn (into); to serve as; to act as; to work as; to wear (clothes, a facial expression, etc.); to judge as being; to view as being; to think of as; to treat as; to use as; to decide on; to choose; to be sensed (of a smell, noise, etc.); to be (in a state, condition, etc.); to be worth; to cost; to pass (of time); to elapse; verbalizing suffix (applies to nouns noted in this dictionary with the part of speech "vs"); creates a humble verb (after a noun prefixed with "o" or "go"); to be just about to; to be just starting to; to try to; to attempt to

indicates sentence subject (occasionally object); indicates possessive (esp. in literary expressions); but; however; still; and

to reach; to arrive; to get through; to get at; to be attentive; to pay attention; to be delivered; to carry (e.g. sound)