Verbs:
You will need to switch your browser's encoding to Japanese to view this page.
There are two types of verbs in Japanese, called Group 1 and Group 2.
There are only two exceptions to these two groups:
する [suru] (to
do) and くる [kuru] (to
come). These will be dealt with later.
And because I know you guys
are dying to know, these are not the verbs
you would use in a pr0n fic. You’d use やる [yaru] (to
*ahem* do) and いく [iku] (to come. Ironically, this word is typically used to mean ‘to
go’).
Anyway.
Group 1 vs Group 2
Differentiating
The general rule is that verbs ending in –eru and –iru are group 2.
e.g. 食べる [Taberu] (to …eat. Great. Stop it with the pr0n jokes and the snickering already. These are just the most commonly used verbs in class!)
e.g. いる [iru] (to be; to exist)
However! There are of course exceptions:
e.g. 帰る[Kaeru] (to
return) is group 1, as is
e.g. 要る [iru] (to want; to need)
You’ll also notice that the first ‘iru’ and the second ‘iru’ are
pronounced exactly the same way. That’s what kanji is for – to distinguish the
words in writing. If you type ‘iru’ into your dictionary, you’ll find at least
half a dozen other verbs called iru.
Exceptions tend to be relatively rare, however, so it’s probably safe to
assume that the general rule applies. For those of you using the JWPce
dictionary, it appears that the (v1) notation refers to Group 2 verbs, while
the (v5r) notation refers to Group 1 verbs. Don’t quote me on this, however.
Significance
The significance of the difference lies in the conjugation of the verbs.
For Group 1, the last character ‘ku’, ‘mu’, ‘nu’, etc changes for every
conjugation.
Take this chart, for example. Here we have iku – (Normally: to go, Sometimes: to *ahem* come, but only in pr0n fics, okay?)
|
Stem |
|
Conjugation Set 1 |
Set 2 |
Set 3 |
|
い 行 |
か き く け こ て-form た-form |
ない ます （んです） ば おう と ください |
れる ましょう な |
せる たい |
Just take a look at the second column for now.
From top to bottom: ika, iki, iku, ike, iko, te-form.
We’ll talk about the te-form later, but for now, notice that it follows
the hiragana chart (except that the hiragana chart goes from left to right). Ka
ki ku ke ko…
Now take a look at the Group 2 chart.
|
Stem |
Conjugation set 1 |
Set 2 |
Set 3 |
|
で 出 |
ない ます る（んです） れば よう と て ください た |
られる ましょう な ろう |
らせる たい |
First off, the second column
is gone. That’s because group 2 verbs conjugate directly with the stem.
This word is ‘deru’ (to leave. Yes, now you have ‘to do, to come, to
leave’. You can write pr0n fics now! :D)
Notice first that it’s an –eru, hence a group 2 verb.
Secondly, ‘ru’ does not conjugate to ra, ri, ru, re, ro like a group 1
verb. There is no intervening character between the stem and the conjugations.
And now, if you didn’t understand any of that at all, don’t worry. It’ll
be explained in detail just about now. ^^
Conjugation Set 1
This guide is designed to impart the grammatical rules as quickly as
possible, as well as to serve as a reference. This means that you have to go
and figure out the vocab yourself. The charts are true for all group 1 and all
group 2 verbs respectively. That means that you can take any verb and conjugate
it, with the respective result.
Stem: Stem of the verb.
Column 2: The second last character of the verb + a, i, u, e, o.
(e.g.: iku -> ika, iki, iku, ike, iko; nomu -> noma, nomi, nomu,
nome, nomo, etc)
The third column is first set of conjugations.
|
Stem |
|
Conjugation Set 1 |
Meaning |
|
い 行 |
か |
ない |
[Negative form] Negative,
present and future tense, informal form. Ikanai – Not going, will not go. |
|
き |
ます |
[Polite form] Positive,
present and future tense, polite form. |
|
|
く |
（んです） |
[Basic form] Positive, present and future tense, informal form. Iku – To go, will go, goes. Basic form + n desu = Polite form. |
|
|
け |
ば |
[Conditional] If you [do the verb]… Ikeba – If [subject] goes … e.g. Conditional form + ii (good) = It would be good if you did that. Ikeba ii desu = It would be good if you go. |
|
|
こ |
おう と |
[Volitional] I plan to
… Ikou to (omou) – I plan to go |
|
|
て-form |
ください |
[Te- form: Request] Please… Itte – Please go (informal) Itte kudasai – Please go (formal) |
|
|
た-form |
|
[Ta-form: Past tense] Past tense, informal. Itta – I went. Past tense + n desu = Formal Ittan desu – I went. (formal) |
Notes:
1.
Present and future tense (vs present
continuous) – There is no separate form for the future tense in Japanese. i.e.:
I will go, I go, I am going, are all ‘ikimasu’ or ‘iku’. Note, however, that
this is separate from the present-continuous form: i.e. I am going. That is a
conjugation of the te-form, and will be dealt with later.
2.
Informal vs formal – Everyone knows that Japanese
has half a billion different levels of politeness. Generally, you don’t need to
worry about this. As long as it ends in ‘masu’ or ‘desu’, it’s polite. You can
make a sentence polite just by tacking a ‘desu’ on to the end. If the sentence
ends in a verb, use –n desu as per the notes under the Basic Form. If the
sentence ends in an adjective or a noun, use desu.
You may also encounter ‘nan desu’. This is ‘n desu’ in written form, and
basically means ‘desu’, which basically doesn’t mean anything in and of itself
^_~.
3.
Subject – We’ll come to sentence
construction later, but for the moment, just remember that if no subject is
specified, it’s taken that the sentence refers to yourself. Also, it is rarely
necessary to refer to oneself. In English, we would go: “I am going.” Literally
translated, that’s “Watashi wa ikimasu.” However, it’s elegant sufficiency and
grammatically correct to use “Ikimasu.” in Japanese.
4.
Volitional + omou: 思う [Omou] is another
verb. (To think). The full form of the Volitional form is hence
[Volitional-form] + Omou, where Omou can subsequently be conjugated. E.g. Ikou
to omoimasu = I plan to go (formal). Omou is also only used when you are almost
dead certain that you’re going to do that. I’ve also never seen the equivalent
of ‘I don’t plan on going’ using the volitional form. Typically, the negative
form is used for that. (“I will not go.”)
You can skip over the alternatives, but they’re included here for geeks:
[Basic form or negative
form] + tsumori = I intend to […]
e.g. Taberu tsumori desu = I intend to eat. / Tabenai tsumori desu = I intend
not to eat.
This is less certain than omou, but more certain than…
[Basic form, negative
form, or past tense] + kamoshirenai = I’m not sure, but I think…
e.g. Nomu kamoshirenai =
I’m not sure, but I think I will drink…
This is extremely uncertain. It can also be used when someone asks you about a
past event that you’re not sure of, or how many people there are in the room,
or basically in response to any question of which you’re not certain about the
answer to.
5.
Te-form – The problem with the –te form is
that, like the –ta form subsequently, it varies from group 1 verb to group 1
verb, depending on what the verb ends in. For example, all ‘ku’ verbs will
become [stem] + ite. (Iku is the only exception to this). More on te-forms
later.
Group 2
Group 2 follows the same pattern as Group 1, except without the 2nd
column. As such, it’s much easier!
|
で 出 |
ない |
[Negative form] Negative,
present and future tense, informal form. Denai – Not leaving, will not leave. |
|
ます |
[Polite form] Positive,
present and future tense, polite form. |
|
|
る（んです） |
[Basic form] Positive, present and future tense, informal form. Note that the basic form includes the ru. Deru – To leave, will leave, leaves. Basic form + n desu = Polite form. |
|
|
れば |
[Conditional] If you [do the verb]… Note that for all group 2 verbs, this is stem + reba. Dereba – If [subject] leaves… e.g. Conditional form + ii (good) = It would be good if you did that. Dereba ii desu = It would be good if you left. |
|
|
よう と |
[Volitional] I plan to
… Deyou to (omou) – I plan to leave. |
|
|
て ください |
[Te- form: Request] Please… Dete – Please leave (informal) Dete kudasai – Please leave (formal) |
|
|
た |
[Ta-form: Past tense] Past tense, informal. Deta – I left. Past tense + n desu = Formal Detan desu – I left. (formal) |
Notes:
1.
Te form: Unlike group 1, the te-form for all group 2 verbs is just the
stem + te. Ditto for the ta-form – Stem + Ta.
Exceptions:
Suru and Kuru
As mentioned,
the conjugations for suru and kuru are different. The whole verb changes.
However, it still follows the same pattern of forms.
Suru （する）
|
Stem |
Conjugation Set 1 |
Meaning |
|
し |
ない |
[Negative form] Negative,
present and future tense, informal form. Shinai – Not doing, will not do. |
|
し |
ます |
[Polite form] Positive,
present and future tense, polite form. |
|
す |
る（んです） |
[Basic form] Positive, present and future tense, informal form. Suru – To do, will do, does. Basic form + n desu = Polite form. |
|
す |
れば |
[Conditional] If you [do the verb]… Sureba – If [subject] does … e.g. Conditional form + ii (good) = It would be good if you did that. |
|
し |
よう と |
[Volitional] I plan to
… Shiyou to (omou) – I plan to do |
|
し |
て ください |
[Te- form: Request] Please… Shite – Please do (informal) Shite kudasai – Please do (formal) |
|
し |
た |
[Ta-form: Past tense] Past tense, informal. Shita – I did. Past tense + n desu = Formal Shitan desu – I did. (formal) |
Suru is typically paired with an action or a
noun. (i.e. Do studies, do homework, etc) We’ll talk about that more under sentence
construction.
Kuru （来る）「くる」
|
Stem |
Conjugation Set 1 |
Meaning |
|
こ |
ない |
[Negative form] Negative,
present and future tense, informal form. Konai – Not going, will not go. |
|
き |
ます |
[Polite form] Positive,
present and future tense, polite form. |
|
く |
る（んです） |
[Basic form] Positive, present and future tense, informal form. Kuru – To come, will come, comes. Basic form + n desu = Polite form. |
|
く |
れば |
[Conditional] If you [do the verb]… Kureba – If [subject] comes… e.g. Conditional form + ii (good) = It would be good if you came. Kureba ii desu = It would be good if you came. |
|
こ |
よう と |
[Volitional] I plan to
… Koyou to (omou) – I plan to come |
|
き |
て ください |
[Te- form: Request] Please… Kite – Please go (informal) Kite kudasai – Please go (formal) |
|
き |
た |
[Ta-form: Past tense] Past tense, informal. Kita – I went. Past tense + n desu = Formal Kitan desu – I went. (formal) |
In Kanji, the Stem of kuru can always be represented as来 (i.e. 来ない、来ようと思う, etc) However, the pronunciation will
vary.
Te-forms
Te forms for Group
1 verbs vary, as mentioned before, depending on the ending of the verb. Group 2
verbs always end in –eru or –iru. Group 1 verbs may end in –ku, -tsu, -mu, -nu,
etc, and each has a different –te form. The good news? It doesn’t matter what
the verb starts with, only what it ends with. To make the
–te form, take the stem (i.e. cancel the ku, tsu, mu, etc) and replace it with
the conjugation under the ‘te form’ column.
So here goes:
|
Ends in: |
Te form |
Example |
Meaning |
|
く |
いて |
書く → 書いて |
[Kaku] To write |
|
ぐ |
いで |
泳ぐ → 泳いで |
[Oyogu] To swim |
|
す |
して |
話す → 話して |
[Hanasu] To talk |
|
ず |
|
|
|
|
つ |
って |
待つ → まって |
[ |
|
ぬ |
んで |
読む → 読んで |
[Yomu] To read |
|
ふ |
|
|
|
|
ぶ |
呼ぶ |
呼ぶ → 呼んで |
[Yobu] To call |
|
む |
んで |
飲む → 飲んで |
[Nomu] To drink |
|
る |
って |
帰る → 帰って |
[Kaeru] To return (G1) |
There are, as far as I know, no verbs ending in ず (zu) or ふ (fu). Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Ta-forms
The ta-forms follow the te-forms. Simply use ‘ta’ instead of ‘te’.
Other Examples:
Group 1
|
泣く [Na-ku]
|
泣かない 泣きます 泣く 泣けば 泣こう 泣いて 泣いた |
|
放す [Hana-su] |
放さない 放します 放す 放せば 放そう はなして はなした |
|
笑う[Wara-u] (To laugh) |
笑わない 笑います 笑う 笑えば 笑ろう 笑って 笑った |
|
持つ [Mo-tsu] |
持たない 持ちます 持つ 持てば 持とう 持って 持った |
|
取る [To-ru] (To
take) |
取らない 取ります 取る 取れば 取ろう 取って 取った |
|
頼む [Tano-mu] (To
request) |
頼まない 頼みます 頼む 頼めば 頼もう 頼んで 頼んだ |
…What do you mean that all of these are words frequently found in pr0n doujinshi?
We haven’t gotten to the most important one:
Examples: Group 2
|
止める [ya me ru] (To
stop) |
止めない 止めます 止める 止めれば 止めよう 止めて 止めた |
These are the first set of basic conjugations for verbs. The next installment
will include more conjugations, as well as more on the past tense.
Recap
To recap:
Questions, comments? Thank you notes? Leave them here.