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Godan Verbs -五段動詞

Now, before you can start making up sentences of your own, youneed to learn how to conjugate Japanese verbs. Verbs are the mostimportant part of the Japanese sentence. Often times Japanese people

will leave out everything but the verb.

 They are very big on leaving out the obvious and sometimes not soobvious which can get confusing at times. There are only types ofverbs in the Japanese language and they each follow a pattern that isvery simple and very rarely has any e!ceptions. "ost Japanese verbsfall into the #rst group, the $odan %五段& verbs. These verbs alwaysconjugate the same way with only one e!ception. These verbs have#ve changes that follow the order of the Japanese vowels %i.e. thecharacters for that section of the hiragana chart&, hence the name$odan %meaning ' levels or steps&, and then the (te( and (ta( forms

that are common to all verbs. The chart below shows how toconjugate Japanese $odan verbs)*ase +) *ase + can not be used byitself but becomes the plain form negative simply by adding nai. %e!.hanasanai - wont say anything.& -f the verb ends in う %u& then theend for *ase + becomesわ %wa&. %e!. au %*ase +& / awa&%0lain form is what people use when talking to a friend. -t would notbe proper to use in a business environment. 1e will go over the politeform in lesson 2.&

*ase 3) *ase 3 is, in most cases, a noun when used by itself but is

primarily used with the polite form of the verb.

*ase ) *ase is the main form %the one that would be found in thedictionary& and is also the plain form present4future tense.

*ase 5) *ase 5 is most often used as (if verb( by adding ba. %e!.hanaseba -f hed just say something.& -t can also be used by itself asa command form but it is e!tremely rude and - recommend not usingit at all.

*ase ') *ase ' is used by itself as the (lets( form. %e!. hanasou 6ets

talk.& 1e will get into other ways its used in later lessons.

*ase (te() *ase (te( can be used by itself as a plain form command. -tis not rude but should only be used with close friends and children. *yadding kudasai it becomes the polite form command. *ase (te( canalso be used in other ways that we will get into in later lessons.

*ase (ta() *ase (ta( is merely *ase (te( with an (a( sound on the endinstead of an (e( sound. -t is mainly used by itself as the plain formpast tense. %e!. hanashita - talked.& 1e will get into other ways itsused in later lessons.

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 漢字 7anji

話す

話さ

話し

話す

話せ

話そう

話して

話した

Notice) There is one thing that youll need to learn in order toconjugate the (te( and (ta( forms correctly. *asically, for all $odanverbs ending in う %u&,つ %tsu&, or る %ru&8 the う %u&, つ %tsu&, or る %ru&

becomesって %tte& in the (te( form and った %tta& in the (ta( form. %e!.katsu %to win& / katte %1in9&, katta %1e won9&&

:or all $odan verbs ending in ぶ %bu&, む %mu&, or ぬ %nu&8 the ぶ %bu&, む

%mu&, or ぬ %nu& becomesんで %nde& in the (te( form and んだ %nda& inthe (ta( form. %e!. yomu %to read / yonde %;ead it.&, yonda %- readit.&&

:or all $odan verbs ending in く %ku&, the く %ku& becomesいて %ite& inthe (te( form and いた %ita& in the (ta( form. %e!. aruku %to walk& /aruite %1alk9&, aruita %- walked here.&& The only e!ception to this ruleis for the verb iku %to go& which becomesいって, いった %itte4itta&.

:or all $odan verbs ending in ぐ %gu&, the ぐ %gu& becomesいで %ide& inthe (te( form and いだ %ida& in the (ta( form. %e!. oyogu %to swim& /oyoide %

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 漢字 7anji

会う

勝つ

売る

ぶ

!む

"ぬ

歩く

#ぐ

$す

%く