Verb conjugation（動詞の活用）

by leosensei · 2019-08-20

Verb conjugation（動詞どうしの活用かつよう）

I think one of difficult part in Japanese is verb conjugation（動詞の活用）.

Conjugation is difficult word but we can say simply that “conjugation is to change form of verb”. In other language also, there are form change of verb depending on sentence form (negative, past, future sentence etc.)

There are many explanations on this topic but I try to explain more simply with some examples.

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Root(語幹ごかん) and ending（語尾ごび）

Verb consists of root and ending. Root is basic part of verb and never change its part.

On the other hand, ending is changed depending on sentence form.

First step to master verb conjugation is to recognize what is root and ending for each verb.

Example for root and ending

・食たべる (to eat) たべ is root and るis ending

・見みる(to see)　み is root and るis ending

・話はなす (to speak) はな is root and すis ending

To recognize what is root of verb, which related with topic bellow, just make negative form by adding “ない” to verb . Then unchanged part in verb is root.

For example,

・食べ-ない is negative form of 食べ-る. 食べ is unchanged part in 食べる so たべ is root

・見-ない is negative form of 見-る. 見 is unchanged part in 見る so 見 is root

・話-さない is negative form of 話-す. 話 is unchanged part in 話す so はな is root

Can you understand what is root and ending?

Also, can you understand how to recognize root of each verb?

These are very important to next steps.

Category of verb

There are some categories of verb. Some says 4 groups but some says 5 groups..

Either ok I think.

Anyway,

Some explanations categorize Ru-verb and U-verb but in this post, I categorize into 3 groups and irregular verbs, total 5 groups.

Five-step verb (五段活用ごだんかつよう or ア段活用だんかつよう. Often called group 1)

Upper one-step verb (上一段活用かみいちだんかつよう or イ段活用だんかつよう. Often called group 2)

Lower one-step verb (下一段活用しもいちだんかつよう or エ段活用だんかつよう. Often called group 2)

“来くる” form

“する or ～する” form

To recognize which each verb is categorize, we will check root as I explain above.

Please remember above example with negative form by adding ない.

・たべ-ない is negative form of たべ-る. たべ is unchanged part in たべる so たべ is root

・み-ない is negative form of み-る. み is unchanged part in みる so み is root

・はな-さない is negative form of はな-す. はな is unchanged part in はなす so はな is root

Please check sound before -ない.

In たべ-ない case, you can find べ(be) before -ない and べ(be) is e so it’s categorized into Lower one-step verb (下一段活用 or エ段活用).

In み-ない case, you can find み(mi) before -ない and み(mi) is i so it’s categorized into Upper one-step verb (上一段活用 or イ段活用).

In はな-さない case, you can find な(na) before -ない and な(na) is a so it’s categorized into Five-step verb (五段活用 or ア段活用)

Chart of conjugations by category

Here is chart of conjugation by category.

Form	Form in JP	Explanation	Five-step verb	Upper one-step verb	Lower one-step verb	“来る” form	“する or ～する” form
Verb as example			話す	見る	食べる	来る	する
Root or stem	語幹		はな	み	たべ	きorく	すorし
①Negative From	未然形みぜんけい	In negative sentence	はな-さない -sanai	み-ない i-nai	たべ-ない e-nai	こない or	しない or
①Negative From	未然形みぜんけい	In negative sentence	–	–	–	きません	しません
②Conjunctive Form	連用形れんようけい	Followed by -ます(masu)	はな-します -shimasu	み-ます i-masu	たべ-ます e-masu	き-ます	し-ます
③Dictionary Form	終止形しゅうしけい	At end of sentence in present tense	はな-す -su	み-る i-ru	たべ-る e-ru	くる	する
④Attributive form	連体形れんたいけい	Followed by noun	はな-す -su	み-る i-ru	たべ-る e-ru	くる	する
⑤Conditionals	仮定形かていけい	Followed by -ば(ba)	はな-せば-seba	み-れば i-re	たべ-れば e-re	くれば	すれば
⑥Command Form	命令形めいれいけい	Order form	はな-せ -se	み-ろ i-ro	たべ-ろ e-ro	こい	しろ
Note			vowels soon after root in forms: a i u u e e	pattern from top: i i i-ru i-ru i-re i-ro	pattern from top: e e e-ru e-ru e-re e-ro