Verb Conjugation: It ain't that hard

Verb conjugation in English is absolutely horrific. Although it does ostensibly work according to a pattern, there are so many exceptions that one can only feel real pathos for the foreigner trying to learn it. Fortunately, Japanese verb conjugation is simple. There are only three irregular verbs in the entire language--and these are verbs you use every day: to do, to go, and to come.

In this article, I'll show you how to conjugate any verb into present positive and negative, past positive and negative tenses, and the "-te form." From there, you'll be able to go anywhere you want.

Verb types

In modern Japanese, all verbs can be placed into one of four categories. Those categories are Godan, Kami ichi-dan, Shimo ichi-dan, and the irregular verbs. In just a minute I'll tell you how to determine which of those groups a verb belongs to. But first, I'd like to tell you how I categorize verbs.

To be completely honest, I didn't know about the -dan categorization when I learned Japanese. I just came to grips with verb conjugation intuitively. Now, I know that all you hard-core Japanese fundamentalists out there are going to have a fit, but I don't think it's really necessary to confuse a beginning student with all the talk of dans. I divide all verbs into only three groups: Changers, Ru-be-gones, and the irregulars. You'll quickly see the relevance of these names.

First, though, how do you determine which group a verb belongs to? The surest way is to look it up, since you can't be 100% sure just by looking at a verb. (Note different conjugations for the verbs kaeru "to return home" and kaeru "to change.") But just looking at the verb will settle the matter most of the time. Here are the rules:

Kami ichi-dan verbs are verbs that end in ru whose next-to-last letter contains an i sound. Examples: miru, okiru, ochiru.

Shimo ichi-dan verbs are verbs that end in ru whose next-to-last letter contains an e sound. Examples: koeru, yakeru, nageru.

Godan verbs are everything else. All verbs that do not end in ru are godan. Any verb that ends in ru can be a godan. Astute readers will notice that this allows a possible overlap with the other two verb types. This is what accounts for the example I cite above. However, all verbs that end in ru whose next-to-last letter contains a a, u, or o are godan.

Now, if you're like me, and your mind works more along intuitive lines than in terms of charts and graphs, you might prefer my method of categorization. Kami ichi-dan and shimo ichi-dan verbs are all ru-be-gone verbs because when they conjugate into various forms, such as the past tense and the negative, the ru vanishes completely and is replaced by some suffix. For example, miru changes to minai for the negative present. The ru is completely gone.

On the other hand, in the case of changers, which all godan verbs are, the last letter changes to another letter in its line on the hiragana chart. For example, kaku would change to kakanai for the negative present. The ku is still there, it has just changed form.

Of course, the last category in both my system and the official one is the irregular verbs. Those verbs are suru, iku, and kuru. Now let's do some conjugation!

Suru, iku, kuru

POSITIVENEGATIVE
PRESENT/FUTURE

suru

shinai
PAST

shita

shinakatta

POSITIVENEGATIVE
PRESENT/FUTURE

iku

ikanai
PAST

itta

ikanakatta

POSITIVENEGATIVE
PRESENT/FUTURE

kuru

konai
PAST

kita

konakatta

These three verbs you'll just have to memorize. There's no real way around it. But it shouldn't be much to complain over. This is it, folks! Everything else goes according to the pattern. All you have to do is remember whether the verb is a changer or a ru-be-gone. Let's look at the ru-be-gones first.

Ru-be-gones

POSITIVENEGATIVE
PRESENT/FUTUREdictionary form

miru

drop ru and add nai

minai
PASTdrop ru and add ta

mita

drop i from negative present and add katta

minakatta

The reason I give directions to the negative past from the negative present instead of from the dictionary form is that dropping i and adding katta is a very standard thing to do. That's how adjectives change to the past tense as well. So I wanted to reinforce that, rather than saying that you should drop the ru from the dictionary form and add nakatta. That'll get you there, too, but it's better to think in terms of dropping the i.

As for the -te form, it's the same for all verbs, so I'll tell you how to get there at the end. Now let's look at the changers.

Changers

POSITIVENEGATIVE
PRESENT/FUTUREdictionary form

kaku

change the u sound in the last letter to an a sound and add nai

kakanai
PASTWe'll discuss this in a second drop i from negative present and add katta

kakanakatta

In the case of changers, each ending letter changes to the positive past tense differently. Here's how you do it:

Example verbs

Last letter is

Change last letter to

Add

Example finished products
au, aruu, rua small tsutaatta
kakukuitakaita
hanasusushitahanashita
shinu, asobu, tsumamunu, bu, mundashinda, asonda, tsumanda

The -te form

And now, the -te form. This one has absolutely no exceptions. Take the past tense of any verb, and change that last a sound to an e sound and you're there. Examples:

miru--mita--mite
asobu--asonda--asonde
kaku--kaita--kaite

The "let's do" form

First, let me give you the irregulars.

Suru--shiyou
Iku--ikou
Kuru--koyou

All other verbs follow this pattern: For changers, change the last vowel sound to an o sound and extend the vowel. For ru-be-gones, drop the ru and add you. Here are a few examples of both types:

Changers:
Kaku--kakou
Yomu--yomou
Au--aou

Ru-be-gones:
Miru--miyou
Taberu--tabeyou
Nageru--nageyou

The command form

The command form is used for exactly what is sounds like: giving orders. In this category as well, there are two ways to do it. But first, the irregulars.

Suru--shiro
Iku--ike
Kuru--koi

All other verbs change in the following manner. For changers, change the vowel sound of the last letter to an e sound. For ru-be-gones, drop the ru and add ro. An ancient command for ru-be-gones is to drop the ru and add yo. Therefore:

Changers:
Kaku--kake
Yomu--yome
Au--ae

Ru-be-gones:
Miru--miro or miyo
Taberu--tabero or tabeyo
Nageru--nagero or nageyo

The ancient form isn't used much in conversation, but you see it occasionally in print. You should be aware of it.

From here, you should be able to go anywhere you want in the world of Japanese verbs. There are additional way to change verbs, for instance, changing verbs to the -masu form, but these all can be understood by looking at how the two types of verbs, changers and ru-be-gones, conjugate. One thing you might find handy is to remember a representative verb from each category, say yomu and miru. You can think about how they conjugate, and every other verb in the same category will conjugate the same way.

Concluding remarks

To conclude, I'd like to say something about my method of classification. Obviously, it's not something you're going to see in a Japanese textbook anytime soon. But that's one thing I like about it: It's kind of funny. You remember it. I especially like the name "ru-be-gones" because it sounds like some kind of product from the fifties. It's my conviction that learning something as incredible as a language should be fun and interesting, and I try to make it that way when I explain it. This isn't to say that we should sacrifice accuracy; to the contrary, I believe it is of the utmost important to know exactly what is happening grammatically. But why should a beginner care about the difference between a kami ichi-dan and a shimo ichi-dan verb? Clarity and enjoyability are the two keys to fast and effective learning. As instructors of the Japanese language, let's never forget that.

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