{"id":184,"date":"2021-12-14T14:19:27","date_gmt":"2021-12-14T14:19:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/128.199.73.146\/?p=184"},"modified":"2025-02-26T13:20:20","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T13:20:20","slug":"the-basics-you-need-to-know-about-japanese-verb-conjugation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/japanesemayuna.com\/?p=184","title":{"rendered":"The basics you need to know about Japanese verb conjugation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Read on italki<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Japanese verb conjugation rules & usage: The Japanese verb conjugation is one of the most important parts of Japanese grammar. Here is the verb conjugation chart in the Japanese language. Learn here the conjugation uses and rules.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What is verb conjugation<\/strong>? For example, in English, we add \u201c-ed\u201d<\/strong> to an infinitive to indicate the past tense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The verb conjugation is a rule that verbs change depending on usage.<\/strong> Similarly, in Japanese, tense and modality are expressed by verb suffixes. In order to use grammatically correct Japanese, it is essential to master verb conjugation<\/strong>. This may sound like a high hurdle to overcome, but in principle, all you have to do is to classify verbs into three categories and apply the conjugation rules for each.<\/strong> In this article, I would like to explain the basic classification of verbs and the meaning of each conjugated form. Please bookmark this article and use it for your study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3 types of Japanese verbs – U-verbs \/ Ru-verbs \/ Irregular verbs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All Japanese infinitives end with a sound containing the vowel \/u\/ (\u3046,\u304f,\u3059,\u3064,\u306c,\u3080,\u308b,\u3050,\u3076)<\/strong> and are classified into two groups according to pronunciation: U-verb<\/strong> or Ru-verb<\/strong>. There is another group called Irregular verb<\/strong>, but since there are only two verbs included in Irregular verb<\/strong>: \u3059\u308b (to do)<\/strong> and \u304f\u308b (to come)<\/strong>, I will not explain them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

U-verbs<\/td>Ru-verbs<\/td>Irregular verbs<\/td><\/tr>
\u301c\u3046, \u304f, \u3059, \u3064, \u306c, \u3080, \u3050, \u3076
\u301ca, u, o +\u308b<\/td>		\u301ci, e +\u308b<\/td>\u3059\u308b\u30fb\u304f\u308b<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For example, the verb \u6b69(\u3042\u308b)\u304f (walk)<\/strong> ends with \u304f<\/strong> and is classified as a U-verb<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How about the verb \u98df(\u305f)\u3079\u308b (eat)<\/strong>? It ends in \u308b <\/strong>and can be classified as either a U-verb<\/strong> or a Ru-verb<\/strong>. In that case, Let’s take a look at the letter just before the \u308b<\/strong>. The letter \u3079<\/strong> is romanized as \u201cbe\u201d<\/strong>, which contains the \/e\/<\/strong> sound. If the letter immediately before \u308b<\/strong> contains the vowel \/i\/ <\/strong>or \/e\/<\/strong>, it is a Ru-verb<\/strong>, so \u98df(\u305f)\u3079\u308b (eat)<\/strong> is a Ru-verb<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Note, however, that the following verbs do not follow the above trend<\/strong>, and are all classified as U-verbs<\/strong>, even if they end in \/I\/, \/e\/ + \u308b<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U-verbs that look like Ru-verb<\/td><\/tr>
\u301ci\u308b: \u3044\u308b(need), \u304d\u308b(cut), \u3057\u308b(get to know), \u306f\u3044\u308b(enter), \u306f\u3057\u308b(run), \u306d\u3058\u308b(wind)
\u301ce\u308b: \u3042\u305b\u308b(panic), \u304b\u3048\u308b(return home), \u3051\u308b(kick), \u3057\u3083\u3079\u308b(chat), \u3059\u3079\u308b(slip), \u3072\u306d\u308b(twist), \u306d\u308b(knead), \u3078\u308b(decrease)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

12 forms of Japanese verb conjugation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japanese verbs have 12 types of conjugations<\/strong>. The chart below shows the names of the conjugations and their main uses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Japanese infinitives are called dictionary forms<\/strong>. This name comes from the fact that the infinitive is in the form in which it appears in the dictionary. The word \u6b69(\u3042\u308b)\u304f (walk)<\/strong> is a dictionary form, which does not indicate tense. In order to use it as a past tense, you need to change it to Ta-form<\/strong>. In the next section, I will show you how to conjugate verbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apply the conjugation rules to each group of verbs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following chart shows the rules for conjugating each group of verbs in 12 different forms. Te-form and Ta-form of U-verbs<\/strong> are listed separately in the second chart because they have many entries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

* Te-form and Ta-form of U-verbs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Verbs have a common part called root <\/strong>that does not change in any conjugation form. In the chart above, it is represented by \u201c\u301c\u201c<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The root<\/strong> of Ru-verbs<\/strong> is the part of the infinitive before \u308b<\/strong>. For example, in the case of \u98df(\u305f)\u3079\u308b (eat)<\/strong>, \u98df(\u305f)\u3079<\/strong> is the root<\/strong> and \u308b<\/strong> is the conjugation ending<\/strong>. If you want to use the negative form<\/strong> of \u98df(\u305f)\u3079\u308b<\/strong>, the conjugation ending \u308b <\/strong>changes to \u306a\u3044 <\/strong>and you get \u98df(\u305f)\u3079\u306a\u3044 (don\u2019t eat)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The root<\/strong> of U-verbs<\/strong> is the part up to the consonant of the final sound<\/strong>. For example, the word \u6b69(\u3042\u308b)\u304f (walk) <\/strong>in romaji is \u201caruku\u201d<\/strong>. The root<\/strong> is \u201caruk\u201d<\/strong> and the final “u”<\/strong> is the conjugation ending<\/strong>. If you want to use the potential form<\/strong> of \u6b69(\u3042\u308b)\u304f<\/strong>, the “u”<\/strong> is changed to “e\u308b”<\/strong> and the word becomes \u6b69(\u3042\u308b)\u3051\u308b (can walk)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, in Te-form<\/strong> and Ta-form<\/strong>, the last letter is the conjugation ending<\/strong>. For example, the last letter of the verb \u6b69(\u3042\u308b)\u304f<\/strong> is \u304f<\/strong>, which changes to \u3044\u3066<\/strong> or \u3044\u305f<\/strong>: Te-form<\/strong> for \u6b69(\u3042\u308b)\u304f<\/strong> is \u6b69(\u3042\u308b)\u3044\u3066 (walk, and then)<\/strong> and Ta-form<\/strong> for \u6b69(\u3042\u308b)\u3044\u305f (walked)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are no rules for conjugating Irregular verbs<\/strong>, so you have to learn them by heart. Compound verbs ending in \u3059\u308b<\/strong> and \u304f\u308b<\/strong> such as \u52c9\u5f37(\u3079\u3093\u304d\u3087\u3046)\u3059\u308b (study) <\/strong>and \u9023(\u3064)\u308c\u3066\u304f\u308b (bring sb) <\/strong>all have the same conjugation form. For example, the Ta-form<\/strong> of \u52c9\u5f37(\u3079\u3093\u304d\u3087\u3046)\u3059\u308b<\/strong> is \u52c9\u5f37(\u3079\u3093\u304d\u3087\u3046)\u3057\u305f (studied).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verb conjugation in Japanese is one of the most common areas where learners stumble. This is because not all languages have similar rules. For example, Chinese does not have verb conjugation. However, Japanese verb conjugation is simple, and there are not many exceptions to the rule when it comes to regular words. You should be able to identify all the conjugations after reading two or three beginner to intermediate-level textbooks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Japanese verb conjugation rules & usage: The Japanese verb conjugation is one of the most important parts of Japanese grammar. Here is the verb conjugation chart in the Japanese language. Learn here the conjugation uses and rules.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/japanesemayuna.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/japanesemayuna.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/japanesemayuna.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/japanesemayuna.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/japanesemayuna.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=184"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/japanesemayuna.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1030,"href":"https:\/\/japanesemayuna.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions\/1030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/japanesemayuna.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/japanesemayuna.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/japanesemayuna.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}