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