浸す, 漬ける, and 浸る: Soaking, pickling, and being immersed
Compare soaking and pickling in the cloth and food examples with shoes submerged to ankle level and a person absorbed in memories. Follow the object, medium, and immersed subject.
Cloth and beans placed in water
「乾いた布を水に浸してから絞った。」 means “I soaked the dry cloth in water and wrung it out.” The dry cloth is the object placed in water, and water is the medium. 布を and 水に identify those roles, while the sequence places soaking before wringing.
「豆を一晩水に浸すと、少し膨らんだ。」 means “The beans swelled slightly after soaking overnight.” This particular example describes beans swelling slightly after an overnight soak. The overnight duration belongs to the example rather than defining 浸す or a required preparation time for every bean.
Pickled vegetables and a jar prepared before soaking plums
「祖母は切った野菜を塩に漬けた。」 means “My grandmother pickled the sliced vegetables in salt.” The grandmother acts on sliced vegetables, with salt as the medium. Read that object and medium alongside the cloth-in-water example.
「梅を蜜に漬ける前に瓶を用意した。」 means “I prepared the jar before soaking the plums in honey.” The completed action is preparing the jar before soaking plums in honey. 瓶 is the prepared container, while the plums are the object to soak and honey is the medium. The sentence does not state that the plums were already soaked.
Submerged shoes and a person immersed in memories
「川を渡る途中で、靴が足首まで水に浸った。」 means “While crossing the river, my shoes were submerged up to the ankles.” 浸った describes the shoes being submerged, with water as the medium. 足首まで gives ankle level as the extent. In this sentence the shoes are the subject of that state; no person placing them into water is described.
「古い写真を眺めながら、学生時代の思い出に浸った。」 means “Looking at old photographs, I lost myself in memories of my school days.” The person viewing the photographs is immersed in school-day memories. The medium is figurative rather than physical water, and a fixed short-versus-long duration rule does not distinguish 浸す from 漬ける.
In the cloth and shoe examples, what is the object of 浸す and the subject of 浸る, and how far were the shoes submerged?
Show the answer and why
The dry cloth is the object of 浸す in the soaking example. The shoes are the subject of 浸る, described as submerged up to ankle level. The water context is shared, but an object someone puts in and a subject described as immersed have different roles.