Info and tips on Japanese verb conjugation

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Info and tips for Japanese learners

Japanese verbs: Basic information

In Japanese the base form of a verb given is the present informal form, which normally ends in -u. Examples:

食たべる “eat”
行いく “go”
渡わたす “cross”

Japanese has many suffixes that can be added to verbs to affect their meanings. These can express politeness, tense, voice (potential, causative, passive), mood (imperative, volitional, conditional), and whether the verb is positive or negative. For example:

踊おどらせる “make dance” – from 踊おどる “dance”
書かかなかった “did not write” – from 書かく “write”
読よめました “was able to read” (polite) – from 読よむ “read”

However, unlike in many European languages Japanese verbs do not inflect for person, number or gender (so “I eat”, “you eat”, “he eats” etc. are all 食たべる.

Present, Past, and -te form

Japanese verbs inflect for two tenses: present, and past. The present tense normally ends in -u and can have a present or future meaning. The past tense ends in 〜た or 〜だ. For example:

出でる “exit” (or “will exit”)
出でた “exited”
泳およぐ “swim” (or “will swim”)
泳およいだ “swam”

There is also a common verb form called the -te form which is used when a verb appears in the middle of a sentence or part of a compound phrase. These verbs, which end in 〜てor 〜で, do not have tense specified:

出でて “exit” (-te form)
泳およいで “swim” (-te form)

Positive and Negative, Plain and Polite

Most verb forms can appear in either positive (“to do…”) or negative (“to not do…”) forms. For example:

食たべる “eat” (present positive)
食たべない “not eat” (present negative)
食たべた “ate” (past positive)
食たべなかった “did not eat” (past negative)

Verbs forms also have a polite form, ending in 〜ますin the present positive, e.g. 食たべます “eat” (polite). These are used when addressing unfamiliar people, people of higher social status, or in certain social situations.

Potential, Causative, and Passive Verbs

Japanese verbs can be inflected in potential (“to be able to…”), causative (“to make…”), and passive (“to be done…”) forms. For example, the verb 飲のむ “drink” becomes:

飲のめる “to be able to drink”
飲のませる “to make drink”
飲のまれる “to be drunk (of a beverage)”

Verbal Mood (Imperative, Volitional, Conditional)

The imperative mood is used in Japanese to give commands, while the volitional is used to express suggestions or intent:

飲のめ “drink!” (imperative)
飲のもう “let’s drink” (volitional)

Japanese also has conditional verb forms which express the meaning of “if…”. The -eba and -tara forms both translate to “if…” in English:

飲のめば “if (someone) drinks/drank” (-eba form)
飲のんだら “if (someone) drinks/drank” (-tara form)

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