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Category grammar

Verb conjugation

Japanese verb conjugation is fairly simple. The plain form of all verbs ends in u. There are very few irregular verbs, and this page contains a comprehensive list of their conjugations. In modern Japanese, there are no verbs ending in zu, fu, pu, or yu. There is only one verb ending in nu, shinu, to die.

Causative

The causative forms are characterized by the final u becoming aseru for consonant stem verbs, and ru becoming saseru for vowel stem verbs.

|
Type Causative Examples Causative
Irregular verbs
suru saseru kanben suru kanben saseru
kuru kosaseru
Regular verbs
u waseru tsukau (use) tsukawaseru
ku kaseru kawaku (dry) kawakaseru
gu gaseru oyogu (swim) oyogaseru
su saseru shimesu (show) shimesaseru
tsu taseru matsu (wait) mataseru
nu naseru shinu (die) shinaseru
bu baseru yobu (call) yobaseru
mu maseru yomu (read) yomaseru
ru (consonant stem) raseru hashiru (run) hashiraseru
iru, eru (vowel stem) isaseru, esaseru kigaeru (change clothes) kigaesaseru
Adjectives and negatives
i adjectives ku saseru samui (cold) samuku saseru
na adjectives ni saseru shizuka shizuka ni saseru

  • Negatives are not normally made into causatives. Instead, a negative ending is added to the causative of the verb. Thus, for example, Tabesasenai: "Do not let eat".
  • Adjectives are made causative by using the adverb form plus saseru.

    • Usage

    The causative is used for:

  • Making someone do something: shukudai o saseta: "I made him do his homework".
  • Letting someone do something: soto de asobaseta: "I let him play outside".
  • The honorific forms sasete morau or sasete itadaku using the verbs morau or its humble equivalent itadaku.

    • Causative passive

    Conditional eba form

    The eba conditional form is characterized by the final u becoming eba for consonant stem verbs, and ru becoming reba for vowel stem verbs.

    |
    Type Causative Examples Causative
    Irregular verbs
    suru sureba kanben suru kanben sureba
    kuru koreba
    da (copula) de areba
    Regular verbs
    u eba tsukau (use) tsukaeba
    ku keba kawaku (dry) kawakeba
    gu geba oyogu (swim) oyogeba
    su seba shimesu (show) shimeseba
    tsu teba matsu (wait) mateba
    nu neba shinu (die) shineba
    bu beba yobu (call) yobeba
    mu meba yomu (read) yomeba
    ru (consonant stem) raseru hashiru (run) hashireba
    iru, eru (vowel stem) ireba, ereba kigaeru (change clothes) kigaereba
    Adjectives and negatives
    i adjectives kereba samui samukereba
    na adjectives de areba kantan kantan de areba
    nai (negative) nakereba ikanai ikanakereba

  • Na adjectives are usually used with the nara conditional, but they can be used with de areba.
  • The nakereba form used for the negative form can be colloquially contracted to nakya. Thus ikanakereba can become ikanakya.

    • Usage

    The eba conditional form is used

  • in conditionals, for example nani sureba ii ka: "What should I do?".

    • Conditional ra form

    The conditional ra form is formed from the past tense by simply adding ra. The only exception is the copula da, which becomes nara.

    Usage

    i form

    The i form, or ren'yōkei, is very regular, and in almost all cases it is formed by replacing the u with i.

    | miru (see) mi
    Type i form Examples i form
    Irregular verbs
    suru shi benkyō suru benkyō shi
    kuru ki
    da de ari
    Regular verbs
    u i tsukau (use) tsukai
    ku ki yaku (burn) yaki
    gu gi oyogu (swim) oyogi
    su shi shimesu (show) shimeshi
    tsu chi matsu (wait) machi
    nu ni shinu (die) shini
    bu bi yobu (call) yobi
    mu mi yomu (read) yomi
    ru (consonant stem) ri hashiru (run) hashiri
    iru, eru (vowel stem) i, e kigaeru (change clothes)
    		 kigae

    Usage

    The i form has several uses:

  • In formal honorifics such as o tsukai kudasai: "Please use this".
  • To form polite verbs with the masu stem such as ikimasu or tsukaimasu.
  • To express purpose, with ni: tabe ni ikimashita: "I went there to eat".
  • To express a wish, with the ending tai: tabetai: "I want to eat it", ikitai: I want to go.
  • In conjunctions in formal writing.

    • Imperative

    Most of the imperative forms are characterized by the final u becoming e.

    | seyo kanben seyo nasaru nasai kigaeyo
    Type Becomes Examples Imperative
    Irregular verbs
    suru shiro
    		kanben suru kanben shiro
    kuru koi
    ru polite verbs i irassharu
    		irasshai
    kureru kure
    masu stem mase irasshaimasu (come, go) irasshaimase
    da (copula) de are
    Regular verbs
    u e tsukau (use) tsukae
    ku ke yaku (burn) yake
    gu ge oyogu (swim) oyoge
    su se shimesu (show) shimese
    tsu te matsu (wait) mate
    nu ne shinu (die) shine
    bu be yobu (call) yobe
    mu me yomu (read) yome
    ru (consonant stem) re hashiru (run) hashire
    iru, eru (vowel stem) iro, iyo, ero, eyo kigaeru (change clothes) kigaero

    Usage

    The imperative form is used

  • in orders, such as in the military, or to inferiors, or in textbook exercises,
  • in set phrases such as nani shiro: "no matter what".
  • in reported speech, where a polite request may be reported using a plain imperative: kashite kudasai (direct) kase to iwareta (he told me to lend it to him).

    • Negative

    The basic pattern is u becomes anai.

    | ja nai ja nai kantan ja nai
    Type Negative Examples Negative
    Irregular verbs
    suru shinai benkyō suru benkyō shinai
    kuru konai
    da de wa nai
    masu stem masen ikimasu (go, polite) ikimasen
    Regular verbs
    u wanai tsukau (use) tsukawanai
    ku kanai yaku (burn) yakanai
    gu ganai oyogu (swim) oyoganai
    su sanai shimesu (show) shimesanai
    tsu tanai matsu (wait) matanai
    nu nanai shinu (die) shinanai
    bu banai yobu (call) yobanai
    mu manai yomu (read) yomanai
    ru (consonant stem) ranai hashiru (run) hashiranai
    iru, eru (vowel stem) inai, enai kigaeru (change clothes) kigaenai
    Adjectives
    i adjectives ku nai itai (painful) itakunai
    na adjectives de wa nai
    		 kantan kantan de wa nai

  • The nai ending conjugates in two ways.
  • #As an i adjective. For example the past tense of tabenai is tabenakatta and the te form is tabenakute.
  • #There is a special te form made by adding de. For example, tabenaide. This is used, for example, in tabenaide kudasai: "Please don't eat (this)".

    • Potential

    The general pattern is u becomes eru.

    | seru (in compounds) aisuru aiseru ireru, ereru (*) kigaereru (*)
    Type Potential Examples Potential
    Irregular verbs
    suru dekiru
    		 benkyō suru
    		 benkyō dekiru
    kuru korareru
    Regular verbs
    u eru tsukau (use) tsukaeru
    ku keru yaku (burn) yakeru
    gu geru oyogu (swim) oyogeru
    su seru shimesu (show) shimeseru
    tsu tareru matsu (wait) materu
    nu neru shinu (die) shineru
    bu beru yobu (call) yoberu
    mu meru yomu (read) yomeru
    ru (consonant stem) reru hashiru (run) hashireru
    iru, eru (vowel stem) irareru, erareru
    		 kigaeru (change clothes) kigaerareru
    (*) The shorter reru form is common but not considered standard.

    Usage

    The potential is used to

  • express ability, for example nihongo ga yomeru: "I can read Japanese".

    • It is not often used in the sense of English "Could I have a glass of water?", for requests. Instead a more polite form is substituted.

    The potential ru ending conjugates as a vowel stem verb.

    Passive

    The general pattern is u becomes areru.

    |
    Type Passive Examples Passive
    Irregular verbs
    suru sareru benkyō suru benkyō sareru
    kuru korareru
    Regular verbs
    u wareru tsukau (use) tsukawareru
    ku kō yaku (burn) yakareru
    gu gareru oyogu (swim) oyogareru
    su sareru shimesu (show) shimesareru
    tsu tareru matsu (wait) matareru
    nu nareru shinu (die) shinareru
    bu bareru yobu (call) yobareru
    mu mareru yomu (read) yomareru
    ru (consonant stem) rareru hashiru (run) hashirareru
    iru, eru (vowel stem) irareru, erareru kigaeru (change clothes) kigaerareru

  • The ru ending of the passives becomes the new verb ending. This is conjugates as a vowel stem verb. Thus past, te, or polite forms can all be added to the verb.
  • The copula, da, does not form a passive.
  • For the masu form, the masu is added to the passive of the plain verb.

    • Usage

    The passive is used

  • as a passive: Kono terebi wa Toshiba ni tsukurareta: "This TV was made by Toshiba",
  • as a suffering passive, and
  • as a form of honorific.

    • Te form

    The te form of a Japanese verb is used when the verb has some kind of connection to the following words. The conjugation of the te form is similar to the conjugation of the past tense.

    |
    Type Becomes Examples Te form
    Irregular verbs
    suru shite aisuru aishite
    kuru kite
    iku (go) itte
    irassharu (polite) irashite
    masu stem mashite akemasu akemashite
    Regular verbs
    u tte tsukau (use) tsukatte
    ku ite yaku (burn) yaite
    gu ide oyogu (swim) oyoide
    su shite shimesu (show) shimeshite
    tsu tte matsu (wait) matte
    nu nde shinu (die) shinde
    bu nde yobu (call) yonde
    mu nde yomu (read) yonde
    ru (consonant stem) tte hashiru (run) hashitte
    iru, eru (vowel stem) ite, ete taberu tabete
    Adjectives
    i adjective kute yasui (cheap) yasukute
    na adjective de kantan (simple) kantan de

    Usage

  • In requests with kure and kudasai.
  • :Tabete kudasai "Please eat this."
  • With the verbs
  • *Iru: It can mean "to be doing": matte iru: "I am waiting" or "to do": shitte iru: "I know". Collquially, in this form the "i" often disappears, so matte iru becomes matteru and shitte iru becomes shitteru.
  • *Oku: It means "to do in advance". o bentō o tsukutte oita: "I've already made a boxed lunch". Colloquially, in this form the "e" often disappears, so tsukutte oita becomes tsukuttoita
  • *Aru: This forms a kind of passive. It is very common with the verb kaku, to write. Koko ni moji ga kaite aru: "There are some characters written here".
  • *Shimau: This implies something is completed: katazukete shimatta: "I have finished tidying". It can also suggest a regretable situation: {{jr|Watashi no kagi ga kiete shimatta.: "My keys have disappeared". The form te shimau is shortened to chimau or chau, and the de shimau form is shortened to jau or jimau in colloquial speech.
  • To join two sentences. Yasukute ii ne: "It's good that it's cheap".
  • With particles in formations such as
  • *te wa ikenai: "You must not ...". For example, tabete wa ikenai: "You must not eat this".
  • *te mo ii: "You can do this". For example, tabete mo ii: "You can eat it".

    • Past tense

    The past tense is very similar in conjugation to the te form. Most of the past tenses are formed by replacing "te" with "ta". The only exceptions are the adjective forms.

    |
    Type Past Examples Past
    Irregular verbs
    suru shita aisuru aishita
    kuru kita
    iku (go) itta
    Irregular verbs
    suru shita aisuru aishita
    kuru kita
    iku (go) itta
    irassharu (polite) irashita
    masu stem mashita akemasu akemashita
    Regular verbs
    u tta tsukau (use) tsukatta
    ku ita yaku (burn) yaita
    gu ida oyogu (swim) oyoida
    su shita shimesu (show) shimeshita
    tsu tta matsu (wait) matta
    nu nda shinu (die) shinda
    bu nda yobu (call) yonda
    mu nda yomu (read) yonda
    ru (consonant stem) tta hashiru (run) hashitta
    iru, eru (vowel stem) ita, eta taberu tabeta
    Adjectives
    i adjective katta yasui (cheap) yasukatta
    na adjective datta kantan (simple) kantan datta

  • The English meanings in this table are for indication only and are not comprehensive.

    • Usage

    The past tense is used

  • to express the past.

    • Volitional

    | seyō benkyō seyō
    Type Volitional Examples Volitional
    Irregular verbs
    suru shiyō
    		 benkyō suru benkyō shiyō
    kuru koyō
    da darō
    masu stem mashō ikimasu (go, polite) ikimashō
    Regular verbs
    u ō tsukau (use) tsukaō
    ku kō yaku (burn) yakō
    gu gō oyogu (swim) oyogō
    su sō shimesu (show) shimesō
    tsu tō matsu (wait) matō
    nu nō shinu (die) shinō
    bu bō yobu (call) yobō
    mu mō yomu (read) yomō
    ru (consonant stem) rō hashiru (run) hashirō
    iru, eru (vowel stem) iyō, eyō kigaeru (change clothes) kigaeyō

  • In volitional ("let's" or "I'll") statements: benkyō shiyō: "Let's study" or "I'll study".
  • In the form shiyō to suru: be about to or be trying to. Inu ga shinō to shite iru: "The dog is dying."

    • Category:grammar