Final topic

VERBS
CHARACTERISTICS OF NIHONGO
VERBS
1. Japanese verbs do not have different forms to indicate the
number or person or gender of the subject of the sentence. The
same forms are used whether the subject is “I” or “you” or
“they” or anything else.

► This implies that there are no plural forms of singular forms of

Verbs
► Not gender specific; same verb form for female and male
► Not affected by first person, second or third person pronouns
2. Verbs are very often used without a pronoun subject such
as in Kaimasu. (may mean I buy/they buy depending on the
context). Often time the pronoun less verb sentences is
determined by context, but in ambiguity pronouns/ nouns
may be use.
3. There are a number of compound verbs in Nihongo and
the most commonly used compound verb is “suru”
► Rei: Benkyo (study) suru (to do) benkyo shimasu/ benkyo
narimasu
4. All verbs ends in “U” there is no exemption to that.
5.In the event that you will use more than one verb in the
sentence, only the last verb in the sentence will be agglutinated in
the “masu” form and the rest will be in the abrupt/plain form.
anata wa taberu to nonde kudasai = te kudasai
massugu itte kudasai=
6. Japanese verbs change forms based on polarity (negative or
affirmative) based on tense and what is following them( rei
nouns, predicative phrase and particles).
The non past plain affirmative form of the verb is called dictionary
“jisho word” because it is use in the listing of words in the
dictionaries. present tense abrupt/ jisho words
 Verbs are first categorized as either
Irregular verbs :
K uru and s uru- why irregular because they don’t follow the
rules in agglutination. stem words
Regular verbs: classify it as=
► they follow the rules in agglutination
► Further subclassified as “iru” and “eru” or “U” ending
► Subclassifications are done in order to determine the rule
in finding the stem word( a.k.a. root word of a like/ the
combining form/ pre masu form)
taberu = tabe+ massugu i
nomu = nom +
 Irregular verbs
► Kuru- to come dictionary or jisho form/ infinitive form/plain non past
form (come) k+ (I)masu form
Kimasu- masu form, polite affirmative non past form/ present
tense(English is “come”.)
Konai (nai form/plain negative non past( they don’t use affirmative)
Kimasen- masu form/polite negative non past. “dont come”
kureba- ba form or conditional form (English if you will come)
koi- command form (no polite form) English is Come!!!! Kuru na
koyo- plain volitional form “will come”
kimasho polite volitional form in English I will come or we will come
Kiite kudasai =LISTEN Kitte kudasai= COME suwatte kudasai
► S uru- most commonly used for compound verbs which means”
to do” this is also the plain affirmative non past form/ jisho
Shimasu- masu form/polite affirmative non past form
Shinai- nai form/ plain negative non past form which mean in
English “don’t do”
Shimasen- masu form/ polite negative non past form “don’t do”
Sureba- ba form, plain affirmative conditional form English “ If (you)
will do”
Shiro,seyo- command form in English “do!!!” suru na
Shiyo- plain volitional form in English ( I )shall do; shimasho let us do
Shinai de- te form(use in one or more action take place in succession in English
word “then”
SUNDE= PRESENT PROGRESSIVE / STATE OF BEING
Ex. Asa pan o tabete, kohi wo nonde, gakkou e ikimasu.
 Regular verbs & Conjugation Classes
1.Ru verbs- are verbs whose dictionary forms end in syllable “ru” and their
conjugated forms are created by dropping ru and adding suffix or particle.
2. U verbs- are the verbs whose dictionary forms ends in any of the nine syllables
u , ku , gu , su , tsu, mu, nu, bu , ru and their conjugated forms are
created by dropping the final “u” and some suffix or particle.
Basically, recall the exemptions to the rule of U verbs that ends in
“IRU” “ERU” kaer – to return
hairu- to enter = hair +I masu keru- to kick ker+
hashiru- to run hashir+imasu shaberu- to speak/chat shaber+
kiru- to cut kir+ suberu- to slip/slide suber+
iru- to need ir+ neru- to elaborate/knead ner+
*ne+ masu form – to go to bed is a “ru” verb nemasu
Conjugation/agglutination of verbs
Basic rule in conjugating/agglutinating verbs.
1. Determine what type of verb – Regular or irregular
2. For Regular verbs determine if it is a RU or U dropping
verb IRU/ERU= RU DROPPING
- usually verbs that ends in iru and eru are Ru verbs
- drop the ru to get the stem word/ combining form
then add the suffix based on the tense/mood
- drop u for u ending to get the stem word or
combining form then add the suffix based on
mood
 MASU FORM
► The verb that ends in the “(i)masu” form is considered a polite suffix.
Verb combining form/stem word + (i)masu- polite non past
affirmative/present tense
► Verb combining form +(i)masen- polite non past negative
► Stem word + (i)mashita – polite past affirmative form
► Combining form + (i) masen deshita- polite past negative form
► Stem word + (i)masho- polite volitional form (let us)
Jisho/abrupt nonpast Stem word
IKIMASEN= DO NOT GO
aitai desu- wants to meet aimashita = met I want water = mizu o hoshii
desu
ASHITA NO BAN OTOUSAN WA DAIGAKU NI IKIMASEN KA. YOUR FATHER
TOMORROW NIGHT DONT GO TO THE UNIVERSITY.
●Verb + te mo ii desu ka – for polite request/ (I)te kudasai (POLITE
request)
Rei: Asoko de sore o oite kudasai (Can I place that (object) over there?)
Niwa o tsukette kudasai (Can I make a garden.)
+ (i)te imasu- state of being (present progressive)
Rei: Onna hito wa asoko ni tatte imasu( A woman is standing over
there.)
Kasa motte arimasu ka( Do you have an umbrella?)
●Verb + (i)te imasu- for habitual action
Rei: Nihongo wa mai nichi benkyou shite imasu ( I study Nihongo
everyday.) benkyo shite imasu
●Verb(ABRUPT FORM) + yotei desu- plan to study benkyo suru yotei
desu
Rei: Cebu e iku yotei desu( I plan to visit/go to Cebu
•Verb (ABRUPT FORM) + na – for command
Rei: Ikuna (Go!)
Sawaru na( Don’t touch)
•Verb + nai de kudasai – please don’t do
Rei: Samui desu kara, eakon o tsukinaide kudasai.(Please don’t turn on the
aircon it is cold.) tsukite imasu
•Verb (Present plain/jisho) + desho-probably
Rei: Kaeru desho-(He is probably returning.)

•Verb + tai desu desiderative ( want)- tabe- tabetai- wants to eat

Tabe. (I want to eat) des
ka
Agglutinate, Pr+/-, Past +/- , desiderative, polite request. Present progressive,
volitional.
► kau =
► Ageru=
► iku= itte imasu=
► hashirIMASU
► kiku
► Kaeru
=
 Te form
► Is made by adding the suffix “te” to the combining form of the verb, but the
te form of most “U” verbs undergoes extensive euphonic changes.
► The suffix “te” will become “de” for the verbs that ends in bu, mu, nu, gu
► Second, the syllable ki, gi at the end of the combining form will become “I”
► Third, the syllable mi,ni,bi at the end of the combining form will become “n”
for mu, nu,bu jisho word kaiite =please write
► Fourth for the syllable “ri or chi” at the end of the combining form as well as
syllable “I” not preceded by a consonant but occurring at the end of the
combining form must be deleted and its position must be filled by doubling
the consonant ”t” of the suffix te for dictionary word that ends in ru,tsu, or u
not preceded by a consonant * exemption is Ikite- to go = itte rather than iite
► ITTE
JISHO FORM COMBINING TE- form Te- form (neg) Te form (neg)
FORM/ STEM (affirmative) …nakute …..nai de
Taberu- to eat tabe tabete tabenakute Tabenai de

Miru- to watch mi mite minakute Minai de

Kaku- to write Kak(i)*2 kaite kakanakute Kakanai de

Oyogu- to swim Oyog(i)*2, *1 Oyoide*1 oyogonakute Oyogonai de

Iku- to go Iki te itte ikanakute Ikanai de

Yomu- to read*1 Yomi*3, yonde yomanakute Yomanai de

Shinu- to die*1 shini shinde shinakute Shinanai de

Tobu- to fly*1 Tobi*3, 1 tonde tobanakute Tobanai de

Other Verb forms in Nihongo
Ta form- plain past perfect affirmative form Ex. Tabeta/
negative-tabenakatta
Ba form- plain conditional form Ex. Kaku-kakeba/ negative-
kakanakereba
Ex. Heya ga kurakereba, denki wo tsukitte kudasai-
Please switch on the light if the room is dark
Tara form- plain conditional form things need to be fulfilled or other
events to take place , when condition is different from reality, or
definitely going to happen in the future
Ex. tabetara= affirmative/negative= tabenakattara
Ex. Ame ga furanakattara, sakka wo shimasu.- If it doesn’t rain, ill play
soccer.
Passive form-verb being use when the grammatical subject is the person or
thing that experiences the effect of action; or something is done to
somebody. Taberareru passive form (eaten) taberaremasu (is
eaten)
Potential form- describe the ability or inability to do something “can eat”
tabereru , kakeru- can write