Japanese Verb Conjugation: The Three Groups and Every Basic Form

Japanese verbs ignore most of what European verbs care about. There's no separate form for I, you, she or they, and no singular or plural. 食べる (たべる) covers "I eat," "he eats" and "we eat" alike. What verbs do change for is tense, negation, politeness, and a set of endings for things like ability and suggestion.

The system is also very regular. Every verb belongs to one of three groups, and once you know a verb's group you can produce every form of it. Only two verbs are irregular all the way through.

The three groups

Group 1: godan verbs

Godan (五段, ごだん) means "five levels." Textbooks in English often call these u-verbs. Their dictionary form ends in one of nine kana: う, く, ぐ, す, つ, ぬ, む, ぶ or る. When they conjugate, that last kana moves to another vowel in the same row of the hiragana chart. Take 書く (かく, to write): 書かない, 書きます, 書く, 書ける, 書こう. The か row runs か, き, く, け, こ, and the verb uses all five. That's where the name comes from.

This is the biggest group by far. 話す (はなす, to speak), 飲む (のむ, to drink), 買う (かう, to buy), 待つ (まつ, to wait), 遊ぶ (あそぶ, to play) and 死ぬ (しぬ, to die) are all godan. 死ぬ is the only ぬ verb in everyday modern Japanese.

Group 2: ichidan verbs

Ichidan (一段, いちだん) means "one level," and the usual English name is ru-verbs. They always end in る, and the kana before る always has an い or え sound: 食べる (たべる, to eat), 見る (みる, to see), 起きる (おきる, to get up), 教える (おしえる, to teach). To conjugate, you drop る and attach the ending. Nothing else moves: 食べない, 食べます, 食べた, 食べよう.

Group 3: the two irregulars

する (to do) and 来る (くる, to come). Their stems shift in ways you can't predict, so you memorize them. They're also two of the most frequent verbs in the language, so you'll get the practice. する attaches to nouns to make a huge number of verbs, like 勉強する (べんきょうする, to study) and 電話する (でんわする, to phone), and all of them conjugate exactly like する.

How to tell which group a verb is in

Look at the dictionary form and work down this list:

1. If it's する or 来る, or a noun plus する, it's irregular.
2. If it doesn't end in る, it's godan.
3. If it ends in る and the sound before る is あ, う or お, it's godan: 分かる (わかる, to understand), 作る (つくる, to make), 取る (とる, to take).
4. If it ends in る and the sound before る is い or え, it's probably ichidan. Probably.

Step 4 is the weak one, and it's the reason for the next section.

The る verbs that are secretly godan

A number of verbs end in an い or え sound plus る, look exactly like ichidan verbs, and are godan anyway. Several are words you need in your first month. If you treat 帰る as ichidan you'll say 帰ます. The correct form is 帰ります.

Some of these have an ichidan twin that's spelled the same in kana. 切る (きる, to cut) is godan and 着る (きる, to wear) is ichidan, so "I cut" is 切ります and "I wear" is 着ます. 要る (いる, to need) is godan and 居る (いる, to be) is ichidan: 要ります against います. 帰る (かえる, to go home) gives 帰ります, and 変える (かえる, to change) gives 変えます.

There's a rule of thumb that catches most of them. Look at how the verb is written with kanji. If the い or え sound is spelled out in hiragana before る, as in 食べる, 起きる or 教える, the verb is almost always ichidan. If that sound is hidden inside the kanji and the verb is three kana or longer, as in 帰る, 走る and 入る, it's usually godan. Two-kana verbs can't be sorted this way. 見る, 着る, 寝る and 出る are ichidan, 切る, 知る and 減る are godan, and you learn them one by one. The rule has exceptions too, such as 混じる (まじる, to be mixed), which is godan, so we'd still learn each new る verb together with its ます form.

The basic forms, side by side

Here are twelve model verbs: eight godan verbs covering the endings you'll commonly meet, two ichidan verbs and the two irregulars. Potential means "can do," and volitional means "let's do" or "I'll do."

来る is written with the same kanji in every form, so 来ます, 来ない and 来よう hide the fact that the reading jumps between き, こ and く. The table gives that row in kana so you can see it.

How each form is built

ます form (polite)

Godan: change the final kana to the い sound of its row and add ます. 書く becomes 書きます, 話す becomes 話します, 待つ becomes 待ちます. Ichidan: drop る and add ます. The part in front of ます is called the verb stem, and plenty of other grammar attaches to it. ます itself changes for tense and negation: 食べます, 食べません, 食べました, 食べませんでした.

ない form (plain negative)

Godan: change the final kana to the あ sound and add ない. There's one catch. Verbs ending in う use わ, not あ, so 買う becomes 買わない and 会う (あう, to meet) becomes 会わない. Ichidan: drop る and add ない. One verb breaks the pattern completely: the negative of ある (to exist) is just ない, never あらない.

た form and て form (past and connecting)

These two share the same sound changes, so if you know one you know the other. For ichidan verbs, drop る and add た or て. For godan verbs, the ending depends on the final kana:

• う, つ and る become った and って: 買った, 待って, 帰った.
• む, ぶ and ぬ become んだ and んで: 飲んだ, 遊んで, 死んだ.
• く becomes いた and いて: 書いた, 書いて.
• ぐ becomes いだ and いで: 泳いだ, 泳いで.
• す becomes した and して: 話した, 話して.

The one exception you'll run into is 行く (いく, to go). By the く rule it should be 行いた, but it's 行った and 行って. We have a separate post on the て form that covers what you can do with it.

Potential form (can do)

Godan: change the final kana to the え sound and add る. 書く becomes 書ける (can write), and 飲む becomes 飲める (can drink). Ichidan: drop る and add られる, giving 食べられる and 見られる. In casual speech many people shorten these to 食べれる and 見れる. You'll hear it everywhere, but it's still treated as nonstandard in formal writing and on tests. する has no potential form of its own and borrows できる. Every potential form is itself an ichidan verb, so 書ける conjugates as 書けます, 書けない, 書けた.

Volitional form (let's, I'll)

Godan: change the final kana to the お sound and add う. 行く becomes 行こう (let's go), and 飲む becomes 飲もう. Ichidan: drop る and add よう, so 食べる becomes 食べよう. The irregulars are しよう and 来よう (こよう). The polite version of all of these is the stem plus ましょう: 行きましょう, 食べましょう.

The few other exceptions

Beyond する and 来る, the irregularities in the basic forms fit in a short list. You've seen two already: 行く in the た and て forms, and ある in the negative.

The third involves five honorific verbs: いらっしゃる, おっしゃる, くださる, なさる and ござる. They're godan, but their ます forms have い where you'd expect り: いらっしゃいます, おっしゃいます, くださいます, なさいます and ございます. You already know two of them from set phrases. ください comes from くださる, and the ございます in ありがとうございます comes from ござる.

What to memorize first

Trying to learn seven forms of every verb at once is a good way to learn none of them. An order that works: get the ます form solid first, since it's what you'll be speaking in. Add the て form next, because so much grammar hangs on it. Then ない and た, which follow patterns you'll already know by that point. Potential and volitional can wait until those feel automatic.

And when you add a new verb to your vocabulary, note its group. For most verbs the dictionary form tells you. For anything ending in an い or え sound plus る, check, and store the ます form with it.

Common questions