The Three Main Groups Of Japanese Verbs (+ How To Conjugate)

There are three main groups of Japanese verbs.

Verbs ending in "-u" are in the first group, verbs ending in "-iru" or "-eru" are in the second group and the third group contains irregular verbs.

In Japanese, there are only two irregular verbs.

Types of verbs

• Godan (Consonant stem verbs) All the verbs ending with (い) る or (え) る

• Ichidan (Vowel stem verbs) Words ending in: う, く, ぐ, す, つ, ぬ, ぶ, む or る.

• Irregular Verbs する (e.to do) and来(く)る (e.to come).

The conjugation of all the Japanese verbs is the same for all pronouns. (I, you, he, she, we, they). In addition, there are several of verb conjugations including the following:

• Nonpast
• Past
• Causative
• Causitive-passive
• Conjunctive
• Conditionals
• Passive
• Potential
• Imperative
• Volitional
• Provisional

How to conjugate the most common Japanese verbs

• Asobu (to play) - 遊ぶ
• Au (to meet) - 会う
• Iku (to go) - 行く
• Kakaru (to take) - かかる
• Kaku (to write) - 書く
• Kiku (to listen) - 聞く
• Kuru (to come) - 来る
• Miru (to see, to look)- 見る
• Motsu (to have) - 持つ
• Narau (to learn) - 習う
• Neru (to sleep) - 寝る
• Shiru (to know)- 知る
• Suru (to do) - する
• Taberu (to eat)- 食べる
• Yomu (to read) - 読む