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• 2. Grammar
• 2.1. Verbs

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How do Japanese verbs conjugate?

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.

• 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. For example, atsuku saseru, "make hot", from atsui, "hot".

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.

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.

• Na adjective 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, hence for example, itta "went" becomes ittara "if (you) go". The only exception is the copula da, which becomes nara.

i form

See What is the 'i' verb ending?

Imperative

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

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) becomes kase to iwareta (he told me to lend it to him).

Negative

The basic pattern for forming negative Japanese verbs is the u at the end of the verb becomes anai.

The nai ending conjugates in two ways.

1. As an i adjective. For example the past tense of tabenai is tabenakatta and the te form is tabenakute.
2. 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 ("can do")

The general pattern is u becomes eru.

(*) 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, so, for example, the past tense of yomeru is yometa.

Passive

The general pattern is u becomes areru.

• 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 stem, the masu is added to the passive of the plain verb.

Usage

The passive form of the verb is used

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

Te form

See How does the te form work?

• sci.lang.japan FAQ
• 2. Grammar
• 2.1. Verbs

• Previous: What's the difference between hajimeru and hajimaru?
• Next: How does the te form work?

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