I think we are now ready to start using verbs in sentences. It's great that you managed to get this far! I hope these lessons have been at least helpful to you.
Remember, there are three main parts of a sentence in Japanese: the Topic, Other Information and the Predicate. Japanese sentences do not strictly follow the so-called "Word Order Rule" SOV (Subject, Object, Verb). While words may not have a strict order, the Predicate is the main core of the Japanese sentence. It comes at the end and must be a verb or verbal form.
※ Learn more about the Word Order Myth
| Topic | Other Information | Predicate |
|---|---|---|
| atashi wa I (female) |
sushi o sushi |
taberu to eat |
※ あたしは寿司を食べる
As opposed to the Predicate, a sentences does not always need the Topic or Other Information parts. If the topic or anything else is obvious from context, it can be omitted. In some situations, even the verb itself may get omitted. The above example may get shortened as 寿司を
Technically, unlike English, the only thing you need to make a complete sentence in Japanese is a Verb and nothing else. From an English view point, this doesn't make sense. It's a good idea now to think in Japanese and not try to compare everything to English grammar or try to translate between English and Japanese too literally. It simply won't work.
New Words to Learn
Here are some verbs we are going to play around with to show how verbs work. By now, you should already be able to read the Hiragana. Don't worry if you can't remember them all just yet.
| English | Romaji | Kana | Kanji | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RU | Eat | taberu | たべる | 食べる |
| RU | See | miru | みる | 見る |
| U | Read | yomu | よむ | 読む |
| U | Write | kaku | かく | 書く |
| U | Speak | hanasu | はなす | 話す |
| U | Hurry | isogu | いそぐ | 急ぐ |
| U | Go | iku | いく | 行く |
| U | Meet | au | あう | 会う |
| ! | Do | suru | する | |
| ! | Come | kuru | くる | 来る |
What are Ichidan and Godan Verbs?
Before we start learning how to use verbs, we will need to know the different types of verbs. There are three types of verbs in Japanese Ichidan, Godan and Irregular. I've already marked these by colour in the Words Table in the previous section so you know which ones are which.
Ichidan verbs are sometimes called ru-verbs as most of these verbs end in る.
Most Ichidan verbs end with either eru or iru in romaji; the vowel sound preceding る is an /e/ or /i/ sound. However, there are a few verbs that end in eru or iru that are not Ichidan verbs. If the vowel sound preceding る is an /a/, /u/ or /o/ vowel sound (aru, uru or oru), it'll always be a Godan Verb.
For example: taberu, miru, neru, oshieru, deru etc...
Godan verbs are sometimes called u-verbs as all of these verbs end with an /u/ sound that isn't an Ichidan verb. These are the most common type of verbs you'll come across.
For example: yomu, kaku, hanasu, isogu, wakaru, iku, au etc...
Irregular verbs are those that don't follow the same rules as Ichidan or Godan verbs. Fortunately, unlike English that has over 200 irregular verbs, there are only 2 very common irregular verbs in Japanese making them a lot easier to remember.
These are suru (to do) and kuru (to come). While iku (to go) is not an irregular verb, it too has a somewhat similar verb base that conjugates differently than normal.
Is it an Ichidan or Godan Verb?
As mentioned already, there are a few verbs that end in eru or iru that are not Ichidan verbs but how do we know which ones they are? Unfortunately, that is not as easy to know just yet.
Many teachers, not just "textbooks", talk about ru-verbs and u-verbs, however, this system does not exist in Japanese. This is a westernised concept made up to aid people learning Japanese but has the negative affect of over-complicating things and will only hinder learning in the long run so it's best not to rely too much on the ru-verb and u-verb system.
The reason for its non-existence in Japan and its language is that native Japanese children will already understand Japanese and most forms of these verbs. As a non-Japanese learner, you won't and Japanese language guides try to use this overly-complex system to try to make learning easier but unfortunately, it does not work that well.
The easiest way to know if a verb is Ichidan or Godan is to learn what the negative form of a verb is while learning its dictionary form. If a verbs ~nai form ends with an /i/ or /e/ sound then it is always an Ichidan verb. If a verbs ~nai form ends with an /a/ sound then it is always a Godan verb.
- taberu => tabenai => Ichidan
- miru => minai => Ichidan
- yomu => yomanai => Godan
- hanasu => hanasanai => Godan
- kiru => kinai => Ichidan
- kiru => kiranai => Godan
See the last two words? They are 着る (kiru) meaning "to wear" and 切る (kiru) meaning "to cut"; both of these have the same reading "kiru" but the first one is an Ichidan verb and the second one is a Godan verb.
For this, you must learn the ~nai form (or Base 1) of a verb at the same time as learning its dictionary form. We will cover the ~nai form in another lesson very soon so don't worry about it for now.
What is Dictionary Form?
All verbs ending with an ~u or ~ru sound are in the informal present tense form. This form is called a Dictionary Form because the dictionary uses this form for its verb entry. For more information about a specific verb, check out online dictionaries such as japandict.com or jisho.org.
-
Ichidan verb, Transitive verb
to eat
-
Ichidan verb, Transitive verb
to live on (e.g. a salary); to live off; to subsist on
| Base 1 | tabe |
| Base 2 | tabe |
| Base 3 | taberu |
| Base 4 | tabere |
| Base 5 | tabeyou |
| Base te | tabete |
| Base ta | tabeta |
※ In the next lesson, before we look at verb tenses, I want to discuss Verb Bases in Japanese. We are going to need to know the different ways of conjugating verbs to make tenses and express other meanings, formally and informally.
Example Sentences
| Japanese | English |
|---|---|
| 私は読む watashi wa yomu |
I read (As for I, read) |
| 彼は書く kare wa kaku |
He writes (As for he, write) |
| 明日は来る ashita wa kuru |
Tomorrow will come (As for tomorrow, come) |
| ゆたは食べる yuta wa taberu |
Yuta eats (As for Yuta, eat) |
| ゆたが書く yuta ga kaku |
Yuta writes (It is Yuta who writes) |
| ゆたも話す yuta mo hanasu |
Yuta also speaks (As for Yuta, also speak) |
Additional Notes
Please remember, the example sentences we are giving may be presented in an unnatural or artificial way. The main point here is to understand how the language itself works which is done using artificial examples.
Continue to broaden your research and listen to how real Japanese people use these words. It's important to make sure you have many other resources to use. Do not rely on this website alone.
Related Lessons and References
Here is a list of other pages as a reference of what else you may be interested in reading: