Verbs put your Japanese skills into action. Conjugating them into the right tense is essential to using them effectively. With the Japanese verb conjugation charts in this guide, you’ll be ready to describe what anyone is doing, will do, or did.
Embed conjugations into your long-term memory by using them regularly. Practice your conjugations by reading short stories in present and past tense, listening to the verbs a native Japanese speaker uses to cover idioms and vocabulary, and weaving verbs into conversations with Japanese tutoring from Rosetta Stone.
Table of Contents
Japanese verb basics
Unlike English, Spanish, and other Germanic or Romance languages, Japanese verb conjugations are not tied to the subject of the sentence. For example, “to read” in English can turn into “I read” or “She reads.” In Japanese, “to read” becomes yomu (読む) or yomimasu (読みます) regardless of who the sentence is about. Whether one person or an entire classroom of students is reading, the conjugation of “to read” is the same in Japanese.
Learning how to read hiragana—one of the two Japanese alphabets—will help you understand the conjugation patterns and which sounds to change. Being able to picture Japanese verbs with Japanese characters rather than romanization is important.
The 3 types of verbs in Japanese
Japanese verbs are separated into three categories: godan (五段), ichidan (一段), and irregular verbs. All Japanese verbs end in an “u” sound, but the “u” sound combined with the consonant before it—in other words, the hiragana letter—indicates how it must be conjugated.
- Godan verbs: Also known as u-verbs or Group 1 verbs, this is the largest category and includes all verbs except for most verbs that end in -ru (る) and the two irregular verbs.
- Ichidan verbs: Also known as ru-verbs or Group 2 verbs, most verbs that end in -ru are included in this group, with a few exceptions that are conjugated like godan verbs.
- Irregular verbs: Also known as Group 3 verbs, there are only two of these! The verbs kuru (to come) and suru (to do) do not follow the typical pattern, and the first Japanese letter of each word (ku and su) changes depending on the conjugation type.
Grammar note: What about “to be”? Rather than a normal verb, desu is widely considered to be a special type of verb called a “copula,” and it does not follow the usual Japanese conjugation patterns. However, it still plays the role of a verb and has a place in this guide.
Which godan verbs end in “ru”?
Not all verbs that end in -ru conjugate like ichidan verbs. While not foolproof, there are two rules to help you determine the outliers:
- If the sound before the -ru is an “a,” “u,” or “o” sound, it is not an ichidan verb. For example, the verbs hanasu (話す, to speak), sumu (住む, to live), and yomu (読む, to read) are all godan verbs.
- If the sound before the -ru is an “i” or “e” sound, it is probably an ichidan verb. For example, the verbs miru (見る, to see/watch) and taberu (食べる, to eat) are ichidan verbs.
The exceptions in the second point are not obvious at a glance. The homonyms kaeru (帰る, to return) and kaeru (変える, to change) have the same letters, but the first is a godan verb and the second is an ichidan verb.
The best way to pick up the exceptions is through immersion! Rosetta Stone’s Dynamic Immersion method helps you learn the words and their conjugations in context to foster an understanding of the language beyond memorizing patterns and phrases.
Most common verbs in Japanese
What Japanese verbs should you learn first? Start with everyday actions from this list. How long it takes to learn Japanese varies, but 20 words is a manageable number to learn within a week or two as you build your vocabulary.
By applying the Japanese verb conjugations below to these words, you’ll be able to describe your day from when you wake up to when you go to sleep. Several of these examples are used in Rosetta Stone’s very first Japanese lesson. You can learn Japanese while applying these verbs from the beginning.
| Japanese | Verb type | English |
| ですdesu | copula | to be |
| するsuru | irregular | to do |
| あるaru | godan | to be; to have (inanimate) |
| いるiru | ichidan | to be; to have (animate) |
| 食べる（たべる）taberu | ichidan | to eat |
| 飲む（のむ）nomu | godan | to drink |
| 見る（みる）miru | ichidan | to see; to watch |
| 話す（はなす）hanasu | godan | to speak |
| 聞く（きく）kiku | godan | to listen; to ask |
| 行く（いく）iku | godan | to go |
| 来る（くる）kuru | irregular | to come |
| 帰る（かえる）kaeru | godan | to return; to go home |
| 寝る（ねる）neru | ichidan | to sleep |
| 起きる（おきる）okiru | ichidan | to wake up |
| 書く（かく）kaku | godan | to write |
| 読む（よむ）yomu | godan | to read |
| 分かる（わかる）wakaru | godan | to understand |
| 入る（はいる）hairu | godan | to enter |
| 出る（でる）deru | ichidan | to exit |
| 使う（つかう）tsukau | godan | to use |
Grammar note: As you learn how to conjugate Japanese verbs, you may notice that if there is a kanji (漢字, Chinese character) at the beginning of the word, the character and the sound it makes will almost always carry into the new conjugation.
Japanese verb conjugation in the present and future tenses
In Japanese, the present and future tense conjugations are exactly the same. Whether or not something is happening today or tomorrow is understood through context clues or other words in the sentence.
While the present and future tenses are combined into one conjugation, there are two different forms to remember in Japanese: polite form and plain form.
The polite form in Japanese is also known as masu-form due to the present / future affirmative conjugation ending in -masu (ます). The plain form is also known by a few names, including short form and casual form.
Affirmative conjugations
To conjugate a verb into the polite affirmative conjugation, first determine whether the verb is an ichidan or godan verb.
- For ichidan, all you have to do is drop the -ru at the end of the word and add -masu.
- For godan, change the final “u” sound to the “i” sound in the same row of the Japanese alphabet and add -masu. This means ku becomes ki, su becomes shi, and so on.
- The plain affirmative conjugation is exactly the same as the dictionary form (the way the verb is presented in a dictionary). The exception is the plain form of desu, which is da.
| Dictionary form | Polite form | Plain form | English |
| 食べる（たべる）taberu | 食べますtabemasu | 食べるtaberu | eat / will eat |
| 書く（かく）kaku | 書きますkakimasu | 書くkaku | write / will write |
| 話す（はなす）hanasu | 話しますhanashimasu | 話すhanasu | speak / will speak |
| するsuru | しますshimasu | するsuru | do / will do |
| 来る（くる）kuru | 来ますkimasu | 来るkuru | come / will come |
| ですdesu | ですdesu | だda | am / are / is / will be |
Negative conjugations
The polite negative conjugation makes use of the verb stem, which is the segment of the conjugated masu-form above that comes before -masu. In the ichidan verb tabemasu (eat / will eat), tabe is the verb stem. In the godan verb kakimasu (write / will write), kaki is the verb stem. To conjugate a verb into the polite negative conjugation, simply attach the verb stem to the new ending -masen.
Instead of changing the “u” sound to an “i” sound, the plain negative conjugation changes the “u” sound to an “a” sound. This means ku becomes ka, su becomes sa, and so on. Then you add the ending -nai to complete the conjugation.
| Dictionary form | Polite form | Plain form | English |
| 食べる（たべる）taberu | 食べませんtabemasen | 食べないtabenai | do not eat/will not eat |
| 書く（かく）kaku | 書きせんkakimasen | 書かないkakanai | do not write/will not write |
| 話す（はなす）hanasu | 話しせんhanashimasen | 話さないhanasanai | do not speak/will not speak |
| するsuru | しませんshimasen | しないshinai | do not / will not |
| 来る（くる）kuru | 来ませんkimasen | 来ないkonai | do not come/will not come |
| ですdesu | じゃありませんja-arimasen | じゃないja-nai | am/are/is not/will not be |
As usual, desu is a little different. It’s also important to note this time that the ja before arimasen or nai can also be dewa (では). This interchangeable option comes from ja being the contracted form of dewa. The difference in nuance is slight yet comparable to the nuance found in English contractions:
- Watashi wa gakusei dewa-arimasen. (私は学生ではありません。) = I am not a student.
- Watashi wa gakusei ja-arimasen. (私は学生じゃありません。) = I’m not a student.
Japanese verb conjugation in the past tense
The patterns you saw in the present / future tense will help with past tense. While there are some changes, the basic concepts stay the same.
Affirmative conjugations
The past tense of the polite affirmative conjugation follows the same masu-form pattern as the present / future tense polite forms. For this conjugation, drop the -ru and add -mashita.
Meanwhile, the conjugation for the past tense of the plain affirmative conjugation is where the pattern starts becoming more complex. Rather than a simple swapping of vowels, the final Japanese letter dictates exactly what the new ending will be.
- Ichidan verbs: change final letter -ru (る) to -ta (た)
- Godan verb ending in -u (う), -tsu (つ), or -ru (る): change final letter to -tta (った)
- Godan verb ending in -mu (む), -bu (ぶ), or -nu (ぬ): change final letter to -nda (んだ)
- Godan verb ending in -ku (く): change final letter to -ita (いた); the verb “to go” is an exception
- Godan verb ending in -gu (ぐ): change final letter to -ida (いだ)
- Godan verb ending in -su (す): change final letter to -shita (した)
| Dictionary form | Polite form | Plain form | English |
| 見る（みる）miru | 見ましたmimashita | 見たmita | saw / watched |
| 読む（よむ）yomu | 読みましたyomimashita | 読んだyonda | read |
| 分かる（わかる）wakaru | 分かりましたwakarimashita | 分かったwakatta | understood |
| 行く（いく）iku | 行きましたikimashita | 行ったitta | went |
| するsuru | しましたshimashita | したshita | did |
| 来る（くる）kuru | 来ましたkimashita | 来たkita | came |
| ですdesu | でしたdeshita | だったdatta | was / were |
Negative conjugations
The past negative conjugations are much simpler by comparison. For polite form, the conjugation is verb stem + masen-deshita. For plain form, drop the final -i (い) from the present / future tense plain negative conjugation and add -katta (かった).
| Dictionary form | Polite form | Plain form | English |
| 見る（みる）miru | 見ませんでしたmimasendeshita | 見なかったminakatta | didn’t see/watch |
| 読む（よむ）yomu | 読みませんでしたyomimasen-deshita | 読まなかったyomanakatta | didn’t read |
| 分かる（わかる）wakaru | 分かりませんでしたwakarimasen- deshita | 分からなかったwakaranakatta | didn’t understand |
| するsuru | しませんでしたshimasen-deshita | しなかったshinakatta | didn’t |
| 来る（くる）kuru | 来ませんでしたkimasen-deshita | 来なかったkonakatta | didn’t come |
| ですdesu | じゃありませんでしたja-arimasen-deshita | じゃなかったja-nakatta | was/were |
How to conjugate te-form in Japanese
The te-form is unique to Japanese, and is referred to by the letter te (て) that goes at the end of this conjugation. It has several uses, including connecting sentences as a conjunction (in place of “and”), making requests, and describing ongoing actions.
Conveniently, the Japanese te-form conjugations are nearly identical to the past tense polite affirmative conjugation.
- Ichidan verbs: change final letter, which is always -ru (る), to -te (て).
- Godan verb ending in -u (う), -tsu (つ), or -ru (る): change final letter to -tte (って).
- Godan verb ending in -mu (む), -bu (ぶ), or -nu (ぬ): change final letter to -nde (んで).
- Godan verb ending in -ku (く): change final letter to -ite (いて); the verb “to go” is an exception.
- Godan verb ending in -gu (ぐ): change final letter to -ide (いで).
- Godan verb ending in -su (す): change final letter to -shite (して).
Grammar note: The verbs for “to do” and “to come” are exceptions and have special conjugations. While “to be” has a te-form conjugation (desu changes to de), its use is more dependent on what comes before it than other verbs and does not function the same way.
| Dictionary form | Te-form | English |
| 寝る（ねる）neru | 寝てnete | sleep |
| 使う（つかう）tsukau | 使ってtsukatte | use |
| 帰る（かえる）kaeru | 帰ってkaette | return |
| 飲む（のむ）nomu | 飲んでnonde | drink |
| 話す（はなす）hanasu | 話してhanashite | speak |
| 聞く（きく）kiku | 聞いてkiite | listen/ask |
| 行く（いく）iku | 行ってitte | go |
| するsuru | してshite | do |
| 来る（くる）kuru | 来てkite | come |
Connecting sentences using te-form
In English, independent clauses—simple sentences that can stand on their own—are connected with conjunctions. This includes words such as “and,” “but,” and “or.”
However, in Japanese, connecting clauses that translate as “and” is done differently. Rather than using the grammatical component for “and” (the particle to), the first clause ends in te-form to connect to the second one.
- Imōto wa basu ni norimasu. Gakkō ni ikimasu. (妹はバスに乗ります。学校に行きます。) = My younger sister gets on the bus. She goes to school.
- Imōto wa basu ni notte, gakkō ni ikimasu. (妹はバスに乗って、学校に行きます。) = My younger sister gets on the bus and goes to school.
By using te-form to create compound sentences, your Japanese will sound more natural.
Making requests using te-form
When making a request in Japanese, te-form can be used on its own without any additional endings at all. Used this way, the level of politeness is appropriate for friends or family.
- Kusuri wo nonde. (薬を飲んで。) = Take your medicine.
- Shukudai wo shite. (宿題をして。) = Do your homework.
If speaking more politely, kudasai (please) is added after the verb conjugated with te-form.
- Chotto matte kudasai. (ちょっと待ってください。) = Please wait a moment.
- Hidari ni magatte kudasai. (左に曲がってください。) = Please turn left.
Describing ongoing actions using te-form
Also known as the present progressive tense, the English ending “-ing” describe actions or states of being that are ongoing. In Japanese, te-form is used to create the ending -teimasu.
- Watashi wa nihongo wo benkyou shiteimasu. (私は日本語を勉強しています。) = I’m studying Japanese.
- Haha wa nihon ni sundeimasu. (母は日本に住んでいます。) = My mother lives in Japan. (Literally: My mother is living in Japan.)
As you continue learning Japanese, you will undoubtedly find plenty of reasons to use this conjugation.
0 Commentaires