***This page details many of the concepts and terminology necessary to use Wild Nihongo to its full potential.***
The 3 Basic Japanese Verb Types
- (1) Group 1 Verbs (otherwise known as U-Verbs or Godan Verbs)
- The dictionary form of Group 1 Verbs words ends in an “OOH” sound, as in 書く [To write], 読む [To read], and 死ぬ [To die]. In romaji, these verbs would end with the letter U, as in “kaku“, “yomu“, and “shinu“, hence the nickname U-Verb.
- Group 1 Verbs sometimes end in る, which makes them easily confusable with Group 2 Verbs. Luckily, there are only a handful of such verbs that are commonly used.
- The negative informal stem (i.e. the negative informal conjugation minus ない) of Group 1 Verbs always ends with an “Ah” sound. For example, the negative informal stem of 書く is 書か (i.e. kaka) and the negative informal stem of 走る is 走ら (i.e. hashira).
- (2) Group 2 Verbs (otherwise known as RU-Verbs or Ichidan Verbs)
- The dictionary form of Group 2 verbs ends with either “iru” (e.g. 見る [To see] and 起きる [To wake up]) or with “eru” (e.g. 寝る [To sleep] and 食べる [To eat]).
- (3) Irregular Verbs
Group 1 Verb Conjugations
Dictionary Form (Informal Nonpast) | Masu-Form (Formal Nonpast) | Informal Negative Nonpast | Informal Past | Informal Negative Past | Te-Form | Conditional | Passive | Causative | Potential | Imperative | Volitional |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
話す [To speak] | 話します | 話さない | 話した | 話さなかった | 話して | 話せば | 話される | 話させる | 話せる | 話せ | 話そう |
行く [To go] | 行きます | 行かない | 行った | 行かなかった | 行って | 行けば | 行かれる | 行かせる | 行ける | 行け | 行こう |
乗る [To ride] | 乗ります | 乗らない | 乗った | 乗らなかった | 乗って | 乗れば | 乗られる | 乗らせる | 乗れる | 乗れ | 乗ろう |
呼ぶ [To call] | 呼びます | 呼ばない | 呼んだ | 呼ばなかった | 呼んで | 呼べば | 呼ばれる | 呼ばせる | 呼べる | 呼べ | 呼ぼう |
待つ [To wait] | 待ちます | 待たない | 待った | 待たなかった | 待って | 待てば | 待たれる | 待たせる | 待てる | 待て | 待とう |
読む [To read] | 読みます | 読まない | 読んだ | 読まなかった | 読んで | 読めば | 読まれる | 読ませる | 読める | 読め | 読もう |
死ぬ [To die] | 死にます | 死なない | 死んだ | 死ななかった | 死んで | 死ねば | 死なれる | 死なせる | 死ねる | 死ね | 死のう |
泳ぐ [To swim] | 泳ぎます | 泳がない | 泳いだ | 泳がなかった | 泳いで | 泳げば | 泳がれる | 泳がせる | 泳げる | 泳げ | 泳ごう |
………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. |
Group 2 Verb Conjugations
Dictionary Form (Informal Nonpast) | Masu-Form (Formal Nonpast) | Informal Negative Nonpast | Informal Past | Informal Negative Past | Te-Form | Conditional | Passive | Causative | Potential | Imperative | Volitional |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
見る [To see] | 見ます | 見ない | 見た | 見なかった | 見て | 見れば | 見られる | 見させる | 見られる | 見ろ | 見よう |
食べる [To eat] | 食べます | 食べない | 食べた | 食べなかった | 食べて | 食べれば | 食べられる | 食べさせる | 食べられる | 食べろ | 食べよう |
………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. |
Irregular Verb Conjugations
Dictionary Form (Informal Nonpast) | Masu-Form (Formal Nonpast) | Informal Negative Nonpast | Informal Past | Informal Negative Past | Te-Form | Conditional | Passive | Causative | Potential | Imperative | Volitional |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
する [To do] | します | しない | した | しなかった | して | すれば | される | させる | できる | しろ | しよう |
来る [To come] | 来ます | 来ない | 来た | 来なかった | 来て | 来れば | 来られる | 来させる | 来られる | 来い | 来よう |
………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. |
The Two Japanese Adjective Types
- (1) い-Adjectives
- As the name suggests, い-Adjectives are adjectives that end with い, as in 青い [Blue], 大きい [Big], and 面白い [Interesting]. い-Adjectives can be used pre-nominally or in the predicate position.
- E.g. Pre-nominal い-Adjective: 面白い映画 [Interesting movie]
- E.g. Predicate い-Adjective: あの映画は面白い [That movie is interesting.]
- When used as a predicate, an い-Adjective may be followed by the formal copula です but NOT by the informal copula だ.
- E.g. あの映画は面白いです。[That movie is interesting.]
- E.g. *あの映画は面白いだ。[That movie is interesting.] い-Adjectives can not be followed by だ.
- As the name suggests, い-Adjectives are adjectives that end with い, as in 青い [Blue], 大きい [Big], and 面白い [Interesting]. い-Adjectives can be used pre-nominally or in the predicate position.
- (2) な-Adjectives
- な-Adjectives serve the same grammatical function as い-Adjectives (i.e. to modify nouns), but they behave slightly differently. Most な-Adjectives are derived from Chinese or from other non-Japanese sources.
- When used pre-nominally, な-Adjective stems must be followed by な (hence the name な-Adjectives). It would be ungrammatical to directly affix a な-Adjective to a noun.
- E.g. 静かな町 [Quiet town]
- E.g. 有名な人 [Famous person]
- E.g. *静か町 [Quiet town] A な-Adjective must be followed by な when used pre-nominally (i.e. directly before a noun).
- When used as predicates, な-Adjective may be followed either by the informal copula だ or by the formal copula です.
- E.g. この町は静かです。[This town is quiet.]
- E.g. この町は静かだ。[This town is quiet.]
い-Adjective Conjugations
Informal Nonpast | Informal Negative Nonpast | Informal Past | Informal Negative Past | Conditional | Te-Form | Adverbial Form | Pre-Nominal Form | Formal Nonpast | Formal Negative Nonpast | Formal Past | Formal Negative Past |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
大きい [Big] | 大きくない | 大きかった | 大きくなかった | 大きければ | 大きくて | 大きく | 大きい | 大きいです | 大きくないです / 大きくありません | 大きかったです | 大きくなかったです / 大きくありませんでした |
面白い [Interesting] | 面白くない | 面白かった | 面白くなかった | 面白ければ | 面白くて | 面白く | 面白い | 面白いです | 面白くないです / 面白くありません | 面白かったです | 面白くなかったです / 面白くありませんでした |
高い [Expensive] | 高くない | 高かった | 高くなかった | 高ければ | 高ければ | 高く | 高い | 高いです | 高くないです / 高くありません | 高かったです | 高くなかったです / 高くありませんでした |
Exception: いい [Good] | よくない | よかった | よくなかった | よければ | よくて | よく | いい | いいです | よくないです / よくありません | よかったです | よくなかったです / よくありませんでした |
………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | …………………………………………………. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. |
な-Adjective Conjugations
Informal Nonpast | Informal Nonpast | Informal Past | Informal Negative Past | Conditional | Te-Form | Adverbial Form | Pre-Nominal Form | Formal Nonpast | Formal Negative Nonpast | Formal Past | Formal Negative Past |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
静かだ [Quiet] | 静かじゃない / 静かではない | 静かだった | 静かじゃなかった / 静かではなかった | 静かなら(ば) / 静かであれば | 静かで | 静かに | 静かな | 静かです | 静かじゃありません / 静かではありません | 静かでした | 静かじゃありませんでした / 静かではありませんでした |
有名だ [Famous] | 有名じゃない / 有名ではない | 有名だった | 有名じゃなかった / 有名ではなかった | 有名なら(ば) / 有名であれば | 有名で | 有名に | 有名な | 有名です | 有名じゃありません / 有名ではありません | 有名でした | 有名じゃありませんでした / 有名ではありませんでした |
………………………….. | ………………………………………. | ………………………….. | ………………………………………………….. | …………………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………….. | ………………………………………………………….. | ………………………….. | …………………………………………………………………………… |
Useful Terminology
Agent: The living being who volitionally brings about the main action of a sentence. The subject and the agent are often one and the same (i.e. the subject of the sentence is often the one who performs the sentence’s main action), but there are special cases such as the passive voice in which the subject is NOT the agent of the main action.
Appositive Clause: A clause that is used to re-state a noun in different terms in order to provide further information or clarity about that noun. For example, in the sentence 私は日本へ行く予定があります [I have a plan to go to Japan], the clause 日本へ行く [Go to Japan] is an appositive clause that re-states the noun 予定 [Plan] and provides further clarity to the sentence.
Auxiliary Adjective: An adjective that attaches to the predicate of a clause or sentence in order to serve some special grammatical function. Auxiliary adjectives are dependent, meaning that they cannot be used on their own. Common examples of auxiliary adjectives include ~やすい, ~にくい, てほしい, and そうだ (Conjuncture).
Auxiliary Verb: A verb that attaches to the predicate of a clause or sentence in order to serve some special grammatical function. Auxiliary verbs are often special usages of ordinary verbs (e.g. てある is a special usage of ある [To be]). Other examples of auxiliary verbs include ている, てあげる, and ~すぎる.
Durative Verb: A verb whose action takes place over an extended period of time (rather than taking place instantaneously). For example, 読む [To read] and 書く [To write] both take place over an indefinite duration of time.
Embedded Sentence: A complete sentence that is embedded into a larger sentence. Sentences that are nominalized by の or こと are embedded sentences, as are direct quotations.
Intransitive Verb: A verb that does NOT take direct or indirect objects and thus implies a lack of human agency. For example, neither 開く [To open] nor 始まる [To begin] take objects, meaning that these verbs take place independent of human volition. When an electric door opens as I enter a supermarket, this action occurs automatically and is thus an intransitive action. Similarly, when the rain falls, there is no agent who causes this event; it occurs on its own and is thus an intransitive action. Intransitive verbs often (but not always) have corresponding transitive verbs, and these are referred to as “transitivity pairs”. For example, 開ける and 開く form a transitivity pair, as do 始める and 始まる. It is highly recommended to memorize commonly-used transitivity pairs.
Movement Verb: A verb that expresses a movement from one place to another. 行く [To go] and 来る [To come] are very common examples of movement verbs.
Non-Volitional Verb: A verb whose action is NOT performed purposefully or willingly by an active agent. Intransitive verbs such as 開く [To open] and 始まる [To begin] are non-volitional verbs because they imply a lack of human agency over the action. Potential verb such as 分かる [To understand] 聞こえる [To be audible] are also non-volitional.
Nominalizer: A gramatical structure whose purpose is to transform a verb, adjective, or sentence into a noun phrase. の (Nominalizer) and こと / こと are common nominalizers.
Particle: A grammatical structure that defines the role that a noun serves within a sentence. There are numerous particles in Japanese, and they serve various purposes. One common example is を (Direct Object), which is used to identify a noun as the direct object of the sentence. For example, in the phrase マークは肉を食べる [Mark eats meat], を (Direct Object) is used to identify 肉 [Meat] as the direct object of the verb 食べる [Eat].
Punctual Verb: A verb that takes place more or less instantaneously rather than taking place over an extended period of time. Punctual verbs may represent actions that can be repeated continuously, or they may represent momentary actions that bring about permanent states. For example, 飛ぶ [To jump] is a punctual verb that place place over a very brief period and can be repeated over and over. 死ぬ [To die] is also a punctual verb that takes places in an instant, but it represents the permanent action of transitioning from the state of being alive to the state of being dead and is clearly not a repeatable action.
Predicate: The end part of a clause or sentence that describes the subject’s state or activity. Generally speaking, the predicate expresses the crux of the sentence. The predicate can be a verb, adjective, or noun + copula.
Pronoun: Just as in English, there are various types of pronouns in Japanese. These include personal pronouns (e.g. 私 [I / Me], 彼 [He / Him]), demonstrative pronouns (e.g. これ [This] and それ [That]), interrogative pronouns (e.g. どち [Which?]), and reflexive pronouns (e.g. 自分 [Oneself]).
Reciprocal Verb: A verb whose action is experienced reciprocally by two or more people. For example, 会う [To meet] implies a reciprocal meeting between multiple people. If there is only one person, no meeting can occur. 結婚する is another example of a reciprocal verb. By definition, a marriage represents a union between two (or more?) people.
Relative Clause: A clause that is used to pre-nominally modify a noun. Here is a thorough discussion of relative clauses in Japanese.
Stative Verb: A verb that expresses a continuing state rather than an action. For example, いる [To be] expresses a state of existence, and 分かる [To understand] expresses a state of understanding.
Transitive Verb: A verb that can take a direct or indirect object (or both). Transitive verbs involve human agency. For example, the transitive verb 食べる [To eat] implies that some agent eats some object. Similarly, the transitive verb あげる [To give] implies that some agent gives some object to someone.
Volitional Verb: A verb whose action is performed purposefully and willingly (i.e. volitionally) by an active agent. Transitive verbs such as 食べる [To eat] and 投げる [To throw] are volitional verbs because they imply that some agent is purposefully acting upon some direct object.
WH-Question: In English, non-Yes / No questions are formed with WH-Question words such as “Who“, “What“, “Where“, “When“, “Which“, and “Why” (as well as “How“). The Japanese counterparts to these words are だれ [Who], なに [What], どこ [Where], いつ [When], なんで / なぜ [Why], and どう [How].