Distinguishing Verbs

This lesson will teach you how to convert between the different forms of verbs in Japanese and how to tell them apart.

There are 3 distinct groups of verbs in Japanese: the　いちだん (ichidan) verbs, ごだん (godan) verbs and irregular verbs. The いちだん verbs are also known as "iru/eru" verbs because when they are in their plain forms, they end with an "iru/eru" sound. HOWEVER this does not mean that all verbs that end in "iru/eru" are　いちだん verbs. The ごだん verbs are also known as "u" verbs because they change into the polite form by dropping the "u" and adding "imasu". Because I am lazy, for the rest of the lesson, I shall refer to　いちだん vebs as "iru/eru" verbs and  ごだん verbs as "u" verbs.

Iru/eru-verbs are so called いちだん verbs because they only require one change to turn them into their different forms. When the る (ru) is removed from the end, you are left with the verb stem. If you add ない / ます / られる / よう to the verb stem, you get the plain negative / polite / potential / volitional forms.
Example
Plain negative: たべない
Polite form: たべます
Plain form: たべる
Potential form: たべられる
Volitional form: たべよう

U-verbs use all 5 syllables of the hiragana syllabary and so are called ごだん verbs - their different forms are harder to create. The majority of the verbs are u-verbs and there are 9 different types. Every u-verb belongs to one of those groups. All 9 are shown with examples. In order, the 5 different forms are: plain negative, polite, plain present, potential and volitional. Note the syllable in bold, as it marks which syllable is changed in order to change the verb into that form.

1. Buy: かわない　－＞　かいます　－＞　かう　－＞　かえる　－＞　かおう　
2. Write: かかない　－＞　かきます　－＞　かく　－＞　かける　－＞　かこう
3. Swim: およがない　－＞　およぎます　－＞　およぐ　－＞　およげる　－＞　およごう
4. Speak: はなさない　－＞　はなします　－＞　はなす　－＞　はなせる　－＞　はなそう
5. Stand: たたない　－＞　たちます　－＞　たつ　－＞　たてる　－＞　たとう
6. Die: しなない　－＞　しにます　－＞　しぬ　－＞　しねる　－＞　しのう
7. Play: あそばない　－＞　あそびます　－＞　あそぶ　－＞　あそべる　－＞　あそぼう
8. Drink: のまない　－＞　のみます　－＞　のむ　－＞　のめる　－＞　のもう
9. Take: とらない　－＞　とります　－＞　とる　－＞　とれる　－＞　とろう

The あ line is for the plain past. Take the last syllable from the plain form and change it to the あ syllable of the same line and add ない. This is the equivalent of the polite form of ました。
かわない - Don't buy. Note how verbs that end in う (the first line) take on わ instead of あ. Other examples are,　つかう (tsukau) meaning "to use", where its plain past form is つかわない (tsukawanai) - don't use.

The い line is for the polite form. Turn the last syllable from the plain form into the い syllable of the same line and add ます.
かいます - to buy.

The う line is for the plain form. This is the form you will find verbs listed in when searching in a dictionary which is why it is also known as the dictionary form. The verbs all end with an う sound.

The え line is for the potential form. This form is shorter than the ことが　できる form (read my lesson "Ability to do things"). Take the last syllable from the plain form and change it to the え syllable of the same line and add る. All potential verbs behave like iru/eru-verbs.
かえる - can buy.　－＞　かえます - can buy (polite form)

The お line is for the volitional form.　This is the equivalent of the polite form of ましょう. Take the last syllable of the plain form and change it to the お syllable of the same line and add う to the end.
かおう - let's buy / will buy.


Irregular verbs are, of course, irregular and follow no rules and they need to be rote learned.
しない　－＞　します　－＞　する　－＞　できる　－＞　しよう
こない　－＞　きます　－＞　くる　－＞　こられる　－＞　こよう


There is no exact rule for distinguishing between the verbs. I have separated a list of verbs for you, please check my vocabulary lesson, "List of Common Verbs".
Here are a few pointers to help figuring out what type of verb you have.

• There are 2 irregular verbs. They are　する (suru) meaning "to do" and くる (kuru) meaning "to come".
• Any verbs that do not end in る (ru) when they are in their dictionary form (also known as the plain form) is an u-verb.
• Not all verbs that end in る are iru/eru-verbs
• If a verb ends in る and the syllable before it is "a", "o" or "u", then it is an u-verb. Examples are, つくる (tsukuru) meaning "to make", のる (noru) meaning "to ride",　ある (aru) meaning "to exist" and　あがる (agaru) meaning "to go up".
• If a verb ends in る and it has only one syllable when the る is removed, it is an iru/eru-verb. Examples are みる (miru) meaning "to see" and ねる (neru) meaning "to sleep".
• Iru/eru-verbs have "i" or "e" in front of ない / ます / られる / よう
• However, there are some u-verbs that look as if they may be iru/eru-verbs because they end in "iru/eru". There is no way to distinguish these just by looking at their plain form. It helps to know the other forms of that verb to be sure. Therefore, you just have to know them. Common examples include: かえる (kaeru) meaning "to return", きる (kiru) meaning "to cut" and はしる (hashiru) meaning "to run"

Example
Say I have a verb, とぶ (tobu) meaning "to fly". I want to put it into the plain negative form. I know it is an u-verb because it does not end in る. I also know that it is written in the dictionary form. So now, I take a look at that list up there about the 9 types of u-verbs.
Looking down the "u" column, you can see that とぶ is like あそぶ, and so all the forms that とぶ takes will follow the same rules as those for あそぶ
i.e. とばない　－＞　とびます　－＞　とぶ　－＞　とべる　－＞　とぼう

I hope I have covered everything about verbs. For information about the てform of verbs, please refer to the lesson "Te form of verbs".