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JapaneseThe verb

July 30 2021

A characteristic feature of Japanese sentences is the location of the verb at the very end. Therefore, when reading long sentences, it is worth looking at the end to start the translation correctly. At the beginning of learning, we need to remember only four verb ending. This means that all words will change the same...

A characteristic feature of Japanese sentences is the location of the verb at the very end. Therefore, when reading long sentences, it is worth looking at the end to start the translation correctly. At the beginning of learning, we need to remember only four verb ending. This means that all words will change the same way. The following are the mentioned endings:

す ま (read: masu) – to affirmative sentences in present and future tense

ま せ ん (read:masen) – to negattive sentences in present and future tense

ま た (reading, mashita) – to affirmative sentences in future tense

ま せ ん で た (read: masendeshita) – to negative sentences in past tense

 

So let’s conjugate a few verbs

1. 遊 び ま す (pronounced asobimasu) – I’m having fun, I’ll be having fun

遊 び ま せ ん (pronounced asobimasen) – I am not playing, I will not play

遊 び ま し た (pronounced asobimashita) – I was having fun

遊 び ま せ ん で し た (pronounced asobimasendeshita) – I did not play

 

2.2.食 べ ま す (read: tabemas) – eat, I will eat

食 べ ま ん (read: tabemasen) – I do not eat, I will not eat

食べました (read. tabemashita) – I ate

食べませんでした (read. tabemasendeshita) – I did not eat

 

3.3.勉強します (read. benkyōshimasu) – I learn, I will learn

勉強しません (read. benkyōshimasen) – I do not learn, I will not learn

勉強しました (read. benkyōshimashita) – I learnt

勉強しませんでした (read. benkyōshimasendeshita) – I did not learn

 

Verb groups

In Japanese, verbs are divided into three groups and depending on their membership, they will change differently, for example. in simple form (used for friends, younger, lower social status, etc.)

GROUP I 五段 (read. godan)

In this group when creating various grammatical forms, the last syllable before the end of the “mass” will change. The name “godan” means “five endings” because in this group of verbs we will use all five vowels from the syllabary: a, i, u, e and o Below you can see how in various cases the verb 話 し ま (reading. hanashimasu) – means “talk”.

Verb form Kanji Hiragana Rōmaji End
Regular nonpast form 話す はなす hanasu su
Regular past form 話した はなした hanashita shita
Regular nonpast negative form 話さない はなさない hanasanai sanai
Regular negative past form 話さなかった はなさなかった hanasanakatta sanakatta
Imperative 話せ はなせ hanase se
Expression of will 話そう はなそう hanasō
The form “te) 話して はなして hanashite shite
Conditional 話せば はなせば hanaseba seba

 

GROUP II 一段 (read. ichidan)

In this group, the basis of the verb remains the same during each variation, and only instead of the “mass” at the end of the verb, we add the appropriate ending. So let us change the verb 食 べ ま (reading. tabemas) – means “eat”.

Verb form Kanji Hiragana Rōmaji End
Regular nonpast form 食べる たべる taberu ru
Regular past form 食べた たべた tabeta ta
Regular nonpast negative form 食べない たべない tabenai nai
Regular negative past form 食べなかった 食べなかった tabenakatta nakatta
Imperative 食べろ たべろ tabero ro
Expression of will 食べよう たべよう tabeyō yo
The form “te) 食べて たべて tabete te
Conditional 食べれば たべれば tabereba reba

 

GROUP III 不規則 (read. fukisoku)

This group includes irregular verbs, し ま す (read. shimasu) – do, 来 す (read: kimasu) – come, come, as well as verbs in which there is “ま す” (read. shimasu), which we can shorten to the noun by cutting this ending e.g. 買 い 物 し す (read: kaimonoshimas) – do shopping, while the 買 itself い 物 (read. kaimono) – shopping. In addition, verbs linked to ま す 来 (read. kimas). First, the verb し ま す (read. shimasu):

Verb form Kanji Hiragana Rōmaji End
Regular nonpast form する suru suru
Regular past form した shita shita
Regular nonpast negative form しない shinai shinai
Regular negative past form しなかった shinakatta shinakatta
Imperative しろ shiro shiro
Expression of will しよう shiyō shiyō
The form “te) して shite shite
Conditional すれば sureba sureba

 

And also a variety of 来 verb ま す (read. kimas):

Verb form Kanji Hiragana Rōmaji End
Regular nonpast form 来る くる kuru kuru
Regular past form 来た きた kita kita
Regular nonpast negative form 来ない こない konai konai
Regular negative past form 来なかった こなかった konakatta konakatta
Imperative 来い こい koi koi
Expression of will 来よう こよう koyō koyō
The form “te) 来て きて kite kite
Conditional 来られば こられば korareba korareba

I hope this article will help you become familiar with verbs so that learning Japanese is easier and more enjoyable 😊

Autor: Sandra Jaworska

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