fbpx
30 July 2020

Japanese Verb Conjugation 101

(This article was reviewed and edited by native Japanese speakers to ensure accuracy.)

Why do Japanese verbs conjugate?

Japanese verbs conjugate to express tenses, to connect with other phrases, and to show various nuances. Compared to other languages, Japanese conjugation types can be a bit more complicated. There are many different verb forms as well as polite forms. The conjugations can even be combined together!

Ru-verbs, U-verbs, and Irregular Verbs

Verbs in Japanese can primarily be categorized into two types: ru-verbs and u-verbs. This refers to a verb’s dictionary form. It’s important to know these two types to understand conjugation rules.

Ru-verbs

Ru-verbs are those that end in る, that have either i or e vowel sounds before the る.

Some examples include 食べる(taberu), 着る(kiru), or 寝る(neru).

U-verbs

U-verbs are any verbs which end in u, which is not a ru-verb. This can be any verb ending like う(u), つ(tsu), む(mu), etc… This also includes verbs ending in る that don’t have an eru or iru ending.

Some examples of u-verbs are 立つ(tatsu), 学ぶ(manabu), 飲む(nomu), and 分かる(wakaru).

U-verbs that look like Ru-verbs

Unfortunately, there are exceptions to the rules and some u-verbs look like ru-verbs. This means that some eru and iru ending verbs are part of u-verbs. These simply have to be memorized.

Here are some common u-verbs that look like ru-verbs: しゃべる(shaberu), 帰る(kaeru), 知る(shiru), 入る(hairu), and 走る(hashiru).

Irregular verbs

There are two main irregular verbs in Japanese that don’t belong in ru-verbs or u-verbs. These are する(suru) and くる(kuru).

Printable 100 Basic Japanese Words & 3-Part Vocabulalry Seminar

Sign up for our 3-Part Vocabulary seminar and downlod a printable sheet of 100 basic Japanese words for free.
Yes, I want to learn 100 basic Japanese words!

Polite and Casual Form

Most verb conjugations have a polite and casual form. Japanese is a language that values politeness. Depending on who you are talking to, it’s important to create different nuances in speech and writing. Navigating the polite and casual form in verb conjugations can help to express politeness or familiarity.

The polite form should be used if talking to those of higher social hierarchy, strangers, or older people. The casual form can be used with friends, family, and those of lower social hierarchy. Understanding when to use polite and casual form is best learned from interacting and observing native Japanese speakers.

Dictionary Form and Present Tense

The dictionary form of verbs is the casual present tense of a verb. As the name suggests, it is what can be found in dictionaries to look up verbs. This form is casual and you would only use it with friends and family. All dictionary form verbs end with the u-vowel.

An important thing to note about Japanese present tense is that it can also be used as the future tense.

Here are some examples of the dictionary form or casual present tense:

すしを食べる
Sushi o taberu
I eat sushi

お茶を飲む
Ocha o nomu
I drink tea

In spoken casual Japanese, particles are often dropped. It’s also common to answer by repeating the verb if someone asks you a question. This is because verbs don’t change based on the person it applies to. For example, “I eat” is the same as “she eats” in Japanese.

すし食べる?
Sushi taberu?
Do you want to eat sushi?

食べる。
Taberu.
(yes) I (want to) eat.

Since there’s no future tense, the dictionary form can apply to both present and future. The only way to figure out the tense is through context.

明日、学校行く。
Ashita, gakkou iku.
Tomorrow, I will go to school.

Negative Casual Present Tense:

To conjugate ru-verbs to the negative casual present tense you simply need to drop the る and add ない.

すしを食べ → すしを食べない
Sushi o taberu → Sushi o tabenai
I eat sushi → I don’t eat sushi

For u-verbs it’s easier to look at the romaji to change to the negative form. You need to drop the u and add anai to the end. If you prefer to conjugate with Japanese characters, you can also look at the hiragana ending of the u-verb and change it to the first hiragana in the same row, with an added ない.

お茶を飲 → お茶を飲まない
Ocha o nomu → Ocha o nomanai
I drink tea → I don’t drink tea

For irregular verbs, they don’t follow any rules and can only be memorized. They will change to the negative as follows:

くる → こない
kuru → konai
I come → I don’t come

する → しない
suru → shinai
I do → I don’t do

There is a special rule for verbs which end in う. They will change as if there is a w in front of the u.

う → わない
ka(w)u → kawanai
I buy → I don’t buy

Here is an example of the casual negative present tense being used as the future tense. As discussed earlier, knowing if it is present or future tense relies only on the context.

明日学校行かない。
Ashita gakkou ikanai.
Tomorrow I won’t go to school.

This form can also be used as a way to make suggestions. You can make a suggestion by making it a question.

今日すし食べない?
Kyou sushi tabenai?
Do you want to eat sushi today?

To answer this question, you can use the negative and affirmative casual present tense.

yes: 食べる (taberu)
no: 食べない (tabenai)

Polite Present Tense

The polite present tense can be made by adding ます and ません. This is the form you should normally use unless with close friends, family, and those of lower social hierarchy.

For ru-verbs you only need to drop the る and add ます or ません(the negative form).

すしを食べ → すしを食べます
Sushi o taberu → Sushi o tabemasu
I eat sushi → I eat sushi (polite form)

すしを食べ →  すしを食べません
Sushi o taberu → Sushi o tabemasen
I eat sushi → I don’t eat sushi (polite form)

For u-verbs you should drop the u and add imasu or imasen. If you prefer to conjugate with the Japanese characters, you should look at the hiragana of the verb ending and change it to the second hiragana in the same row. Then, add ます or ません at the end.

お茶を飲 → お茶を飲みます
Ocha o nomu → Ocha o nomimasu
I drink tea → I drink tea (polite form)

お茶を飲む → お茶を飲みません
Ocha o nomu → Ocha o nomimasen
I drink tea → I don’t drink tea (polite form)

The irregular verbs change to the polite form in the following ways:

する → します(affirmative)/しません(negative)
suru → shimasu/shimasen

くる → きます(affirmative)/きません(negative)
kuru → kimasu/kimasen

To make it a polite question, you can add か after the ます.

すし食べますか?
Sushi tabemasuka?
Would you like to eat sushi?

yes: 食べます (tabemasu)
no: 食べません (tabemasen)

To make it a suggestion, you can use the negative polite form and add か. It’s a softer nuance than adding か to the affirmative polite form.

一緒に食べませんか?
Issho ni tabemasenka?
Would you like to eat together?

ず-form    

This is a useful conjugation that works on the negative casual present tense verb. You can take off the ない and replace it with ず.

食べない → 食べ
tabenai → tabezu

飲まない → 飲ま
nomanai → nomazu

The irregular verbs changes as follows:

する → せず
suru → sezu

くる → こず
kuru → kozu

This form doesn’t appear by itself and connects with other verbs. It can be used to make phrases that indicate that an action was done without doing the other action. In most cases it’s followed by に to make the phrase sound smoother.

朝ごはんを食べずに会社に行った。
Asagohan o tabezu ni kaisha ni itta.
I went to work without eating breakfast.

お茶を飲まずに会社に行った。
Ocha o nomazu ni kaisha ni itta.
I went to work without drinking tea.

Past Tense

Casual Past Tense

The casual past tense, which is also sometimes called ta-form, ends in た or だ. The negative form has the ending なかった.

For ru-verbs it is an easy conjugation where you drop the る and add た.

すしを食べ → すしを食べ
Sushi o taberu → Sushi o tabeta
I eat sushi → I ate sushi

For u-verbs there are more rules. う(u), つ(tsu), and る(ru) ending verbs will change to った(tta). む(mu), ぬ(nu), and ぶ(bu) ending verbs will change to んだ(nda). く(ku) changes to いた(ita), ぐ(gu) changes to いだ(ida), and す(su) changes to した(shita).

In the case of 飲, it will change to んだ.

お茶を飲 → お茶を飲んだ
Ocha o nomu → Ocha o nonda
I drink tea → I drank tea

The irregular verbs follow their own rules:

くる → きた
kuru → kita

する → した
suru → shita

You can also form questions with the casual past tense by adding a question mark.

昨日、すし食べた?
Kinou, sushi tabeta?
Did you eat sushi yesterday?

Negative form

The negative form of the casual past tense has the same rule for all verb types. Take the ない form of the verb and replace ない with なかった. The nai-form of the verb is the negative casual present tense (negative version of the dictionary form).

すしを食べない → すしを食べなかった
Sushi o tabenai → Sushi o tabenakatta
I don’t eat sushi → I didn’t eat sushi

お茶を飲まない → お茶を飲まなかった
Ocha o nomanai → Ocha o nomanakatta
I don’t drink tea → I didn’t drink tea

昨日、すし食べなかった。
Kinou, sushi tabenakatta.
Yesterday, I didn’t eat sushi.

Polite Past Tense

To form the polite past tense you can take the polite present tense, and replace the ます ending with ました.

すしを食べます → すしを食べました
Sushi o tabemasu → Sushi o tabemashita
I eat sushi (polite form) → I ate sushi (polite form)

お茶を飲みます → お茶を飲みました
Ocha o nomimasu → Ocha o nomimashita
I drink tea (polite form) → I drank tea (polite form)

The polite past tense can also become a question by adding か. Unlike in present tense, this only applies to the affirmative and not the negative form.

昨日、すしたべましたか?
Kinou, sushi tabemashitaka?
Did you eat sushi yesterday? (polite form)

Negative form

The negative form of the polite past tense can be made by adding でした to the negative polite present tense.

すしを食べません → すしを食べませんでした
Sushi o tabemasen → Sushi o tabemasendeshita
I don’t eat sushi (polite form) → I didn’t eat sushi (polite form)

お茶を飲みません → お茶を飲みませんでした
Ocha o nomimasen → Ocha o nomimasendeshita
I don’t drink tea (polite form) → I didn’t drink tea (polite form)

昨日は学校に行きませんでした。
Kinou wa gakkou ni ikimasendeshita.
I didn’t go to school yesterday (polite form)

Te-form

This form is useful for making requests and connecting sentences. If you already know the past tense, it follows similar rules.

Here is how to form the causal te-form:

Any verb which ends in た in the past tense, changes to て.

すしを食べ → すしを食べ
Sushi o tabeta → Sushi o tabete
I ate sushi → Please eat sushi

Verbs that end in だ in the past tense, will change to で.

お茶を飲ん→ お茶を飲ん
Ocha o nonda → Ocha o nonde
I drank tea → Please drink tea

The negative and polite te-forms follow the same rules regardless of verb type. The negative te-form can be made using the negative dictionary form with an added で.

すし食べない → すし食べない
Sushi tabenai → sushi tabenaide!
I don’t eat sush→ Don’t eat sushi!

For the polite form, you can create it by adding ください to the te-form.

すしを食べて → すしを食べてください
Sushi o tabete → Sushi o tabetekudasai
Please eat sushi → Please eat sushi (polite form)

すしを食べないで → すしを食べないでください
Sushi o tabenaide → Sushi o tabenaidekudasai.
Don’t eat sushi → Please don’t eat sushi (polite form)

In the previous examples, the te-form was at the end of the phrase. In these cases it acts to make a request.

If the te-form is in the middle of the sentence it usually connects phrases and verbs together.

すし食べてみる?
Sushi tabete miru?
Do you want to try eating sushi?

すし食べていく?
Sushi tabete iku?
Do you want to go eat sushi?

Te-form can also work to connect a series of actions. It acts as the word “then” in English.

昨日会社に行って仕事した。
Kinou kaisha ni itte shigoto shita.
Yesterday, I went to my company and (then) I worked.

よう、しょう form

This is also called the volitional form and expresses an intention or thought about doing something (if talking about yourself). It can also mean something similar to “let’s” or “shall we” in English if it includes other people. The ending (よ)う is the informal form and しょう is the polite form.

Casual Form

Ru-verbs

For ru-verbs, the casual form can be made by dropping the る from the dictionary form and adding よう.

すしを食べ → すしを食べよう
Sushi o taberu → Sushi o tabeyou
I eat sushi → Let’s eat sushi

U-verbs

For u-verbs, the informal form is made by dropping the u of the dictionary form and adding ou. If looking at the Japanese characters, take the last hiragana of the dictionary form, and change it to the last hiragana in the same row. Then simply add う to the end.

お茶を飲 → お茶を飲もう
Ocha o nomu → Ocha o nomou
I drink tea → let’s drink tea

For irregular verbs, they change in the following manner:

くる → こよう
kuru → koyou

する → しよう
suru → shiyou

さ、仕事しよう。
Sa, shigoto shiyou.
I think I’ll work (now).

If you add よ, it can be clear that you are talking to someone else and not about yourself. This is usually a childish or feminine way of speech but it can add a nuance that is more insistent.

すし食べようよ。
Sushi tabeyouyo.
Let’s eat sushi.

Polite

For the polite form, take the polite present tense and drop the す. Then, replace that with しょう. This works with all verb types.

すしを食べま → すしを食べましょう
Sushi o tabemasu → Sushi o tabemashou
I eat sushi (polite form) → let’s eat sushi (polite form)

お茶を飲みま→ お茶を飲みましょう
Ocha o nomimasu → Ocha o nomimashou
I drink tea (polite form) → let’s drink tea (polite form)

仕事に戻りましょう。
Shigoto ni modorimashou.
Let’s return to work.

よ can also be added to the polite form to be more insistent. Unlike in the casual form, this way of speech sounds feminine but not childish.

早く行きましょうよ。
Hayaku ikimashou yo.
Let’s go quickly.

Potential Form

This form can be used to express the ability to do something. It is similar to “can” and “can not” in English.

Ru-verbs

The casual potential form can be made by dropping the る and adding (ら)れる or (ら)れない. The ら is often taken out to be smoother in daily speech and writing. Notice that the を preceding the dictionary form must change to が when changing to potential form.

すしを食べ → すしが食べ(ら)れる or すしが食べ(ら)れない
Sushi o taberu → Sushi ga taberareru or Sushi ga taberarenai
I eat sushi → I can eat sushi or I can’t eat sushi

U-verbs

To make the casual potential form with u-verbs, it’s necessary to drop the u and add eru or enai (negative form) to the end. If looking at the Japanese characters you can change the last hiragana of the verb to the fourth hiragana in the same row and add る or ない.

お茶を飲 → お茶が飲める or お茶が飲めない
Ocha o nomu → Ocha ga nomeru or Ocha ga nomenai
I drink tea → I can drink tea or I can’t drink tea

Irregular Verbs

These will change to the casual potential form as follows:

する → できる/できない
suru → dekiru/dekinai

くる → こられる/こられない
kuru → korareru/korarenai

Here are some examples of the casual potential form:

生の魚、食べれる?
Nama no sakana, tabereru?
Can you eat raw fish?

yes: 食べれる。(tabereru)
no: 食べれない。(taberenai)

忙しくて行けない。
Isogashikute ikenai.
I’m too busy and I can’t go.

Polite form

For the polite potential form, take the casual potential form and drop the る. Then, add ます or ません(negative form).

すしが食べられ → すしが食べられます or すしが食べられません
Sushi ga taberareru → Sushi ga taberaremasu or Sushi ga taberaremasen
I can eat sushi → I can eat sushi or I can’t eat sushi (polite form)

お茶が飲め → お茶が飲めます or お茶が飲めません
Ocha ga nomeru → Ocha ga nomemasu or Ocha nomemasen
I can drink tea → I can drink tea or I can’t drink tea (polite form)

Here are some example sentences:

今、会社に来れますか?
Ima, kaisha ni koremasuka?
Could you come to work now?

まだ会社に行けません。
Mada kaisha ni ikemasen.
I can’t go to work yet.

Passive

In Japanese, passive verbs can be used often. Unlike in English, the passive verb can also convey politeness because it doesn’t directly address the person that the action affects. It is especially common in formal writing.

Ru-verbs

In the passive form, ru-verbs look exactly the same as the potential form. However, make sure not to take out ら in the passive form of the verb. For the passive verb to work there must be an object in the beginning of the sentence.

熊に食べられる。
Kuma ni taberareru.
I will get eaten by a bear.

熊に食べられない。
Kuma ni taberarenai.
I will not get eaten by a bear.

The polite form:

熊に食べられます。
Kuma ni taberaremasu.
I will get eaten by a bear. (polite form)

熊に食べられません。
Kuma ni taberaremasen.
I will not get eaten by a bear. (polite form)

U-verbs

These verbs change to passive form by taking the negative present tense, dropping ない, and adding れる or れない (negative form).

お財布を盗まない → お財布が盗まれる or お財布が盗まれない
Osaifu o nusumanai Osaifu ga nusumareru or Osaifu ga nusumarenai
I don’t steal the wallet → the wallet will get stolen or the wallet won’t get stolen

Irregular verbs

For the irregular verbs, change to the passive in the following ways:

する → される
suru → sareru

くる → こられる
kuru → korareru

Polite form

To make the passive form polite, take the る from the informal passive form and add ます or ません (negative form).

お財布が盗まれ → お財布が盗まれます
Osaifu ga nusumareru → Osaifu ga nusumaremasu
The wallet will get stolen → The wallet will get stolen (polite form)

お財布が盗まれ → お財布が盗まれません
Osaifu ga nusumareru → Osaifu ga nusumaremasen
The wallet will get stolen → The wallet won’t get stolen (polite form)

Other uses

The passive form is often used in the past tense and when unwanted events occur. To make the passive form into past tense, conjugate the passive form as a ru-verb by adding た.

車に轢かれたの?大丈夫?
Kuruma ni hikaretano? Daijoubu?
You were run over by a car? Are you ok?

今日財布盗まれた。
Kyou osaifu nusumareta.
My wallet was stolen today.

今日財布盗まれました。
Kyou osaifu nusumaremashita.
My wallet was stolen today. (polite form)

Here are some examples of unwanted events where you might use the passive form.

去年、妻に死なれました。
Kyonen, tsuma ni shinaremashita.
Last year, my wife died (I didn’t want her to die).

友達に先に行かれた。
Tomodachi ni saki ni ikareta.
My friend went before me.

誰かにケーキ食べられた。
Dareka ni keeki taberareta.
The cake was eaten by someone (I didn’t want that to happen).

Conditional

This verb form can show “if” statements. The conjugation for the conditional form follows the same rule for all verb types.

For the affirmative, change the dictionary form of the verb by dropping the final u-vowel and adding e. Then, add ば.

食べ → 食べれば
taberu → tabereba

すしを食べれば、元気になる。
Sushi o tabereba genki ni naru.
If you eat sushi, you get energy.

→ 飲めば
nomu → nomeba

お茶を飲めば、病気にならない。
Ocha o nomeba byouki ni naranai.
If you drink tea, you won’t get sick.

For the negative, take the negative informal present tense (nai-form), remove ない and add なければ.

食べない → 食べなければ
tabenai → tabenakereba

すしを食べなければ、元気が出ない。
Sushi o tabenakereba, genki ga denai.
If you don’t eat sushi, you won’t get energy.

飲まない → 飲まなければ
nomanai → nomanakereba

お茶を飲まなければ、病気になる。
Ocha o nomanakereba, byouki ni naru.
If you don’t drink tea, you’ll get sick.

宿題すれば、ゲームしていいよ。
Shukudai sureba, geemu shite iiyo.
If you do your homework, you can play video games.

会社に来れば教えてあげます。
Kaisha ni kureba, oshiete agemasu.
If you come to the company, I will teach you.

Causative

The causative form of the verb can mean “to make” or” let” someone or something do an action. It’s important to see the context to know exactly what the phrase is trying to convey.

For ru-verbs, drop the る and add させる to create the causative. 

すしを食べ → すしを食べさせる
Sushi o taberu → Sushi o tabesaseru
I eat sushi → I make (them) eat sushi

For u-verbs take out the last vowel u and add aseru.

お茶を飲→ お茶を飲ませる
Ocha o nomu → Ocha o nomaseru
I drink tea → I make (them) drink tea

Another way is to take the negative form, remove ない and add せる.

お茶を飲まない → お茶を飲ませる
Ocha o nomanai → Ocha o nomaseru
I drink tea → I make (them) drink tea

The two irregular verbs are conjugated as follows:

する → させる
suru → saseru

くる → 来させる
kuru → kosaseru

To make the negative and polite forms of the causative you can treat the conjugated causative verbs as ru-verbs. Remove る and add ない (negative), ます(polite affirmative), or ません(polite negative)。

食べさせ → 食べさせない/食べさせます/食べさせません
tabesaseru → tabesasenai/tabesasemasu/tabesasemasen

飲ませる → 飲ませない/飲ませます/飲ませません
nomaseru → nomasenai/nomasemasu/nomasemasen

Parents often use this to talk about making their kids do things.

子どもに野菜もっと食べさせる。
Kodomo ni yasai motto tabesaseru.
I make my children eat more vegetables.

すいません、静かにさせます。
Suimasen, shizuka ni sasemasu.
I’m sorry, I’ll make them be quiet.

Causative Passive

The causative passive is a combination of causative and passive verbs. Although it may seem confusing, it just means “to be made” to do something. To form the causative passive take the causative form and then conjugate it as a ru-verb into passive form.

すしを食べさせ → すしを食べさせられる
Sushi o tabesaseru → Sushi o tabesaserareru
I make (them) eat sushi → I am made to eat sushi

お茶を飲ませ → お茶を飲ませられる
Ocha o nomaseru → Ocha o nomaserareru
I make (them) drink tea → I am made to drink tea

To form the negative and polite forms, conjugate as a ru-verb in the present tense, using the endings ない(negative), ます(polite affirmative), or ません (polite negative).

食べさせられ → 食べさせられない/食べさせられます/食べさせられません
tabesaserareru → tabesaserarenai/tabesaseraremasu/tabesaseraremasen

飲ませられ → 飲ませられない/飲ませられます/飲ませられませんnomaserareru → nomaserarenai/nomaseraremasu/nomaseraremasen

Here are some example sentences uses the causative passive form:

いつも先生に教室の掃除をさせられます。
Itsumo sensei ni kyoushitsu no souji o saseraremasu.
My teacher always makes me clean the classroom.

友達に秘密を言わさせられた。
Tomodachi ni himitsu o iwasaserareta.
My friend made me say a secret.

Imperative

The command form in Japanese can be extremely rude and should never be used with someone who is of higher social hierarchy than you. However, it can be used to express anger or authority, and it can also be heard in anime and manga. In most cases, if you want to make a request, it’s better to use the te-form.

To create the imperative form for ru-verbs, drop the る and add ろ.

すしを食べ → すし食べ!
Sushi o taberu → Sushi tabero!
I eat sushi → Eat sushi!

For u-verbs, change the last vowel to e.

お茶を飲 → お茶飲
Ocha o nomu → Ocha nome!
I drink tea → Drink tea!

The two irregular verbs conjugate as:

する → しろ
suru → shiro

くる → こい
kuru → koi

The negative imperative can be formed by adding a な to the dictionary form. This applies even to irregular verbs.

食べる → 食べるな!
Taberu → Taberuna!

to eat → Don’t eat! 
飲む → 飲むな!

Nomu → Nomuna!
To drink → Don’t drink!

Conjugating further

Japanese verbs can be conjugated further and combined with different conjugations.

As seen earlier, the conditional passive is a great example of this. The conditional makes the verb function as a ru-verb so that it is simple to further conjugate it to passive.

As you study Japanese, you may notice more and more combined conjugations.

Here are some other examples of combining conjugations:

Potential form + past tense can be formed by taking the potential form and conjugating it to past tense as if it was a ru-verb.

すしが食べ(ら)れ →すしが 食べ(ら)れ
Sushi ga taberareru → Sushi ga taberareta
I can eat sushi → I could eat sushi

Passive + te-form can be formed by taking the passive form of the verb and conjugating it like a ru-verb in te-form.

食べられ → 食べられ
taberareru → taberarete

主人公が敵に食べられて死んだ。
Shujinkou ga teki ni taberarete shinda.
The main character was eaten by their enemy and died.

The causative passive can also further connect to the te-form. Here’s an example:

いつも宿題をやらさせられて辛い。
Itsumo shukudai o yarasaserarete tsurai.
It’s hard to always be made to do homework.

Printable 100 Basic Japanese Words & 3-Part Vocabulalry Seminar

Sign up for our 3-Part Vocabulary seminar and downlod a printable sheet of 100 basic Japanese words for free.
Yes, I want to learn 100 basic Japanese words!

Printable 100 Basic Japanese Words & 3-Part Vocabulalry Seminar

Sign up for our 3-Part Vocabulary seminar and downlod a printable sheet of 100 basic Japanese words for free.
Yes, I want to learn 100 basic Japanese words!
close-link