Japanese Verbs: U-verbs, Ru-verbs and Conjugation

Last time, you learned how to use Japanese adjectives. By utilizing the particle が, which expresses subjects of predicates, you can describe what nouns are like. Now, you will learn how to allow nouns to take an action by using Japanese verbs. In this article, you will learn basic knowledge of Japanese verbs.

Conjugation: Japanese U-verbs, Ru-verbs, and Exceptions

Table of Contents [Ru-verbs] [U-verbs] [Advanced Topic: あ Line Is Regarded as わ Line in Conjugations] [Two Exceptions] [Advanced Topic: Particular Exceptions within the Negative Form] [Summary]

Japanese verbs can be divided into two categories: u-verbs and ru-verbs with just two exceptions. Conjugating verbs is significantly important and memorizing the categories will be very helpful. Let’s go over the grammatical rules.

Ru-verbs

見みる: to see, look (at), watch

	Casual	Polite
Stem	mi
Plain Form	見みる miru	見みます mimasu
Negative Form	見みない minai	見みません mimasen

Japanese verbs always contain two parts: a verb base and a suffix. Grammatically, verb bases are called “stems.” In the above example: 見みる, the stem is “mi” and the suffix is “ru” and then they become the plain form. This is the reason why 見みる is categorized into ru-verbs. *There are some terms to call this verbs: Ichidan verbs, V verbs, and Group II. Wasabi has adopted Ru-verbs.

Ru-verbs Become “Polite Form” When You Replace ru with masu

	Casual	Polite
To see, look (at), watch	見みる miru	見みます mimasu
To wear	着きる kiru	着きます kimasu
To exist (animate)	いる iru	います imasu
To eat	食たべる taberu	食たべます tabemasu
To answer	答こたえる kotaeru	答こたえます kotaemasu

Ru-verbs Become “Negative Form” When You Replace ru with nai or masen

	Casual	Polite
Not to see, look (at), watch	見みない minai	見みません mimasen
Not to wear	着きない kinai	着きません kimasen
Not to exist (animate)	いない inai	いません imasen
Not to eat	食たべない tabenai	食たべません tabemasen
Not to answer	答こたえない kotaenai	答こたえません kotaemasen

This is how verb conjugations work. There are other forms such as potential form, causative form, etc. However, the basic rule is same. All what you need to do is just to attach a suffix with a stem. You will learn all of the forms one by one with us.

U-verbs

書かく: to write

	Casual	Polite
Stem	kak
Plain Form	書かく kaku	書かきます kakimasu
Negative Form	書かかない kakanai	書かきません kakimasen

U-verbs work as same as ru-verbs. The difference is just the suffix. In the above example: 書かく, the stem is “kak” and the suffix is “u”. Be careful. It’s not necessarily that u-verbs end with Hiragana う. It means that the last vowel has to be “u” and hence the last hiragana can be く (ku), す(su), つ（tu *=tsu）, ぬ (nu), and even る (ru). Let’s check more examples below. *There are some terms to call this verbs: Godan verbs, C-stem verbs, Group I. Wasabi has adopted U-verbs.

U-verbs Become "Polite Form" When You Replace u with imasu

	Casual	Polite
To write	書かく kaku	書かきます kakimasu
To speak	話はなす hanasu	話はなします hanasimasu *si = shi
To stand	立たつ tatu *tu = tsu	立たちます tatimasu *ti = chi
To die	死しぬ shinu	死しにます shinimasu
To know	知しる shiru	知しります shirimasu

U-verbs Become “Negative Form” When You Replace u with anai or imasen

	Casual	Polite
Not to write	書かかない kakanai	書かきません kakimasen
Not to speak	話はなさない hanasanai	話はなしません hanasimasen *si = shi
Not to stand	立たたない tatanai	立たちません tatimasen *ti = chi
Not to die	死しなない shinanai	死しにません shinimasen
Not to know	知しらない shiranai	知しりません shirimasen

Now, you know how to make the polite and the negative form of Japanese verbs. Yet, you may wonder how to identify which category a verb belongs to. Ru-verbs always end with る (ru). If a verb doesn’t end with る, then it will always be an u-verb. In regard with verbs ending with る, you should look it up in your dictionary because the ones can be either ru-verbs or u-verbs. For reference, Jisho is a helpful resource, though it shows ru-verbs as “Ichidan-verbs” and u-verbs as “Godan-verbs.”

Advanced Topic: あ Line Is Regarded as わ Line in Conjugations

Ex. U-verb: 買かう to buy (When the Last Hiragana is う)

	Casual	Polite
Stem	kaw
Plain Form	買かう kawu	買かいます kawimasu
Negative Form	買かわない kawanai	買かいません kawimasen

わ (wa) line has only わ and other combinations such as wi, wu, we, and wo don’t work and it will remain: い, う, え, and お (*を is regarded as お in verb conjugations). Therefore, they will conjugate in the negative form as above. Here are other verbs: 言いう: to say → 言いわない (iwanai) , 会あう: to meet → 会あわない (awanai), and 歌うたう: to sing → 歌うたわない (utawanai).

わ	ら	や	ま	は	な	た	さ	か	あ
い	り		み	ひ	に	ち	し	き	い
う	る	ゆ	む	ふ	ぬ	つ	す	く	う
え	れ		め	へ	ね	て	せ	け	え
お	ろ	よ	も	ほ	の	と	そ	こ	お

Two Exceptions

来くる: to come

	Casual	Polite
Stem	ku / ko / ki
Plain Form	来くる kuru	来きます kimasu
Negative Form	来こない konai	来きません kimasen

する: to do

	Casual	Polite
Stem	su / shi
Plain Form	する suru	します shimasu
Negative Form	しない shinai	しません shimasen

As you can see, the stems vary depending on the form. You have to memorize the irregularity. In Japanese, する is a very helpful verb because you can oftentimes (though not always) make a noun into a verb by connecting with する. For example, you can say 勉べん強きょうする: to study, 用よう意いする: to prepare, 予よ約やくする: to reserve, etc. and they conjugate just like する (to do):

Polite	勉べん強きょうします
Negative	勉べん強きょうしない
Polite-negative	勉べん強きょうしません

Advanced Topic: Particular Exceptions within the Negative Form

There are sometimes particular exceptions within a form. You also need to memorize them. Here, you will have one exception.

U-verb: ある to exist (inanimate)

	Casual	Polite
Stem	Ar
Plain Form	ある aru	あります arimasu
Negative Form	ない nai	ありません arimasen

When you make the negative form in casual tone, you delete the stem and add ない instead.

Negative Colloquial Expression

As you learned it with state-of-being and adjectives, you can express the verb negative form in polite tone by attaching です with ない. Although they are mostly used in conversations, you should be familiar with them: 見みないです, 書かかないです, 来こないです, しないです, and ないです.

Summary

Japanese verb are categorized into ru-verbs and u-verbs based on suffixes.
You can make the polite and the nagative form by replacing suffixes.
In verb conjugations, あ line is regarded as わ line.
There are two exceptions: する and 来くる.
ある is the exception in the negative form.

In this article, you have learned what u-verbs and ru-verbs are and how to conjugate them with exceptions. However, it’s not a complete sentence without subjects and objects. Let’s learn how to make them next.