Being able to conjugate Japanese verbs is a HUGE part of speaking and writing in Japanese.
In the Japanese language, there are three major categories of verbs for conjugations, which are godan verbs, ichidan verbs, and irregular verbs.
Let’s look at how to conjugate ’em.
1. Godan Verbs
Godan verbs are also known as Group 1 or u-verbs.
Godan verbs are the most common type of verb in Japanese.
These verbs end in “u”, which means the last hiragana ending to their dictionary form is う (u), く(ku), す (su), つ (tsu), ぬ (nu), ぶ (bu), む (mu), る (ru), or ぐ (gu). However, one thing to keep in mind is that some る (ru) ending verbs are ichidan verbs, so those have to be memorized.
Let’s use these two godan verbs in their dictionary forms to go over the different rules.
- 書く (kaku), meaning “to write”
- 飲む (nomu), meaning “to drink”
A. Polite Present
The first one that you’ll want to learn to conjugate is the polite form… or the -masu form.
書く(kaku) changes to 書きます (kakimasu), the “u” is dropped and replaced with “imasu”.
飲む (nomu) it becomes 飲みます (nomimasu).
- Rule – drop the u, add “imasu”
For the plain form, you can keep it as the dictionary form.
B. Negative
The negative form is also straightforward.
This time, we’ll want to cover both the plain and polite forms.
Plain form
For the plain form, you can take the verb 書く(kaku), drop the “u” and add “anai”.
This makes it 書かない (kakanai).
Same with 飲む (nomu), which turns into 飲まない (nomanai).
The negative conjugation changes the verb’s meaning to “I don’t drink”.
- Rule – drop the u, add “inai”
Polite form
For the polite form, you’ll take 書く(kaku), drop the “u” and add “imasen”.
It turns into 書きません (kakimasen).
飲む (nomu) changes to 飲みません (nomimasen).
- Rule – drop the u, add “imasen”
C. Past
Now, the past tense in plain form can be the most complicated because…
The conjugation is based on the last hiragana character.
Here are the rules for the verb endings:
- う (u) , つ (tsu) , or る (ru) ⇒ った (tta)
- む (mu) , ぶ (bu) , or ぬ (nu) ⇒ んだ (nda)
- く(ku) ⇒いた (ita)
- ぐ(gu) ⇒いだ (ida)
- す(su) ⇒した (shita)
These are the rules you that you need to get used to.
If we take the two verbs we’re using 書く (kaku) and 飲む (nomu), we can see that….
- 書く(kaku) should change to 書いた (kaita)
- 飲む (nomu) should be 飲んだ (nonda)
For the past tense in polite form, you simply have to drop the “u” and add “imashita”.
- 書く (kaku) becomes 書きました (kakimashita)
- 飲む (nomu) becomes 飲みました (nomimashita)
So, a bit complex, eh?
- Overall rule – past tends ends in a “ta” or “da”
But don’t let all these rules bother you — I know they probably are.
Acknowledge that there’s a lot… and you’ll get used to ’em as you keep on going with Japanese.
This stuff is just a matter of time and “getting used to it.”
If you want to master the Japanese past tense form… you can check out my PDF workbook in my store.
D. Te-Form
Ah, the Japanese te form — I have a whole guide on it if you click the link.
This conjugation follows similar rules to the past tense but replaces the た (ta) with て (te) or だ (da) with で (de).
Te-form can allow you to express compound phrases and also make requests.
With this rule, we can change 書く (kaku) from the past tense, 書いた (kaita), and change it to 書いて (kaite). 飲む (nomu) goes from past tense 飲んだ(nonda) to 飲んで (nonde).
- Overall rule – same as pst tense but te/de instead of ta/da
E. Volitional
This is a verb form when you want to say “let’s” or suggest things.
Like, let’s go drinking! Let’s learn Japanese. Lets eat!
You can drop the “u” and add “ou”. For 書く (kaku) it would be 書こう(kakou) and for 飲む (nomu) it would be 飲もう (nomou).
- Rule – drop the “u” from the dictionary firm and add “ou”
This would mean “let’s write” or “let’s drink”.
If you want to make it polite, you would drop the “u” and add “imashou” and it would be 書きましょう (kakimashou) and 飲みましょう (nomimashou).
- Rule – drop the “u,” add mashou
2. Ichidan Verbs
Ichidan verbs are also known as group 2 or ru-verbs, and always end with る (ru).
They are usually the EASIEST verbs because they don’t have different hiragana endings.
The only difficult part about ichidan verbs is that sometimes you’ll confuse ’em with godan verbs.
As you know, some godan verbs end in “ru” as well.
Ichidan verbs, for the most part, end with “eru” or “iru”.
Let’s use two ichidan verbs as an example:
- 起きる (okiru), to wake up
- 教える (oshieru), to teach.
A. Polite Present
Just like with godan verbs, the plain present tense is the dictionary form itself.
For the polite form, you’ll need to drop “ru” and replace it with “masu”.
- 起きる (okiru) becomes 起きます (okimasu)
- 教える (oshieru) becomes 教えます (oshiemasu).
B. Negative
The negative form rule is that you drop the “ru” and replace it with “nai”.
- 起きる (okiru) becomes 起きない (okinai)
- 教える (oshieru) becomes 教えない (oshienai)
For the polite negative form, you can change the “ru” to “masen”.
- 起きる(okiru) becomes 起きません (okimasen)
- 教える (oshieru) becomes 教えません (oshiemasen)
C. Past
Compared to godan verbs, the past tense is also simple.
For the plain form, “ru” is dropped and replaced with “ta”.
- 起きる (okiru) becomes 起きた (okita)
- 教える (oshieru) becomes 教えた (oshieta)
For the polite form, “ru” is dropped and replaced with “mashita”
- 起きる (okiru) becomes 起きました (okimashita)
- 教える (oshieru) becomes 教えました (oshiemashita)
D. Te-Form
This beginner-friendly verb type is also simple in the te-form. “Ru” is dropped and replaced with “te”.
- 起きる (okiru) becomes 起きて (okite)
- 教える (oshieru) becomes 教えて(oshiete)
E. Volitional
For the volitional form, you can replace the “ru” and add “you”.
- 起きる (okiru) becomes 起きよう (okiyou)
- 教える (oshieru) becomes 教えよう (oshieyou)
For the polite form, you’ll need to drop the “ru” and add “mashou”.
The two verbs would change to…
- 起きましょう (okimashou)
- 教えましょう (oshiemashou).
3. Irregular Verbs
There are only two irregular verbs in Japanese, which are する (suru) meaning “to do” and 来る (kuru) meaning “to come”. They don’t follow the patterns of godan or ichidan verbs, so the conjugation needs to be completely memorized.
Polite Present
For the polite present tense…
- する (suru) becomesします (shimasu)
- 来る (kuru) becomes 来ます(kimasu)
Negative
する (suru) is しない (shinai), which is the plain form or しません (shimasen), for the polite form.
For 来る (kuru), it is 来ない (konai) for plain form or 来ません (kimasen) for polite form.
Past
For the past tense, you can use した (shita) or しました (shimashita) for する (suru). 来た (kita) or 来ました (kimashita) for 来る (kuru).
Te-Form
The te-form for these two verbs is して (shite) and 来て (kite).
Volitional
These two irregular verbs in volitional form are しよう (shiyou) and 来よう (koyou). For the polite form, it is しましょう (shimashou) and 来ましょう (kimashou).
Since there are only two irregular verbs, it is relatively easy to memorize and remember!
Read This Last + PDF Cheat Sheet
I know there’s a lot going on here.
Lots of rules.
You’re already thinking… “none of this is sticking, it’s too much.”
Well, look…
There are 3 things that will help you master Japanese verb conjugation.
- time — I know it’s all too much at once, but over time you’ll get used to it.
- consistency — the more you come across these verbs, the better they’ll stick.
- avoiding memorization — just be aware of them, review when you forget, but don’t kill yourself trying to remember rules. The rest will take care of itself as you go on learning Japanese.
Speaking of being aware and reviewing…
Oh, you may also be interested in a Japanese Cheat sheet for verb conjugation.
Are ya? So you can glance and review the Japanese verbs and rules.
If yes, join my mailing list and I’ll sent the Cheat Sheet to you immediately. Subscribe below.
Thanks!
– The Main Lingua Junkie