Japanese Verbs

Learning the Japanese Verbs

This page contains information and a list of different Japanese verbs and tenses. Try to memorize the way they're used because they're very important in communication, and will be very helpful to convey what you want to express. Make sure to also visit our Learn Japanese page, which contains several lessons that might help you in your learning process.

When it comes to learning the Japanese verbs, there is good news. Unlike English verbs or those used in most European languages, Japanese verb conjugation is the same for all subjects; first person ("I", "we"), second person ("thou", "you") and third person ("he/she/it" and "they"), singular and plural.

The plain form of all verbs ends in "u". There are very few irregular verbs, but if you master the regular verbs and how to use them, then you would have taken care of 98% of the verbs use.

Japanese Present Tense

More good news is that the present and the future verb tenses are the same in Japanese. To understand that better we will take examples in English.

In English, sometimes you can refer to the future using the present tense. For example, a person might say "I'm taking the kids with me next time." Even though the present tense was used here, it still refers to the future. Usually the meainingvis understood by context or using words refering to the future ("next time", "tomorrow").

The same goes with the Japanese future tense. For example:

(私は)買い物をする (watashi wa) kaimono wo suru: "(I) shop", or "(I) will shop".
(私は)明日 勉強する (watashi wa) ashita benkyou suru: "Tomorrow, (I) will study".

Japanese pronouns are usually omitted when it is clear about whom the speaker is talking (check the list of verbs below).

Japanese Past Tense

The easiness of Japanese verbs doesn't stop with the present and future tense. Even the past tense is very easy to conjugate.

The past tense is very similar in conjugation to the "te" form. Most of the past tenses are formed by replacing "te" with "ta".

Examine the table below:

Verbs Ending	Past Form		Raw Example	Past Form
う u	った tta		使う tsukau (use)	使った tsukatta
く ku	いた ita		焼く yaku (burn)	焼いた yaita
ぐ gu	いだ ida		泳ぐ oyogu (swim)	泳いだ oyoida
す su	した shita		示す shimesu (show)	示した shimeshita
つ tsu	った tta		待つ matsu (wait)	待った matta
ぬ nu	んだ nda		死ぬ shinu (die)	死んだ shinda
ぶ bu	んだ nda		呼ぶ yobu (call)	呼んだ yonda
む mu	んだ nda		読む yomu (read)	読んだ yonda
る ru (consonant stem)	った tta		走る hashiru (run)	走った hashitta
いる iru, える eru (vowel stem)	いた ita, えた eta		着替える kigaeru (change clothes)	着替えた kigaeta

As you can see, the table above shows the Japanese verbs in the raw format, and then when it's in the past tense a very straight forward method. There are some irregular forms but they are not too many.

Here are some examples:

する suru (do) becomes した shita.
来る kuru (come) becomes 来た kita.
行く iku (go) becomes 行った itta.

Japanese Verbs in the Negative Form

To use the negative with verbs it's very easy as well. The basic pattern is that "u" becomes "anai", for example: 焼く yaku (to burn) becomes 焼かない yakanai (not to burn). 読む yomu (to read) becomes 読まない yomanai (not to read). Easy, right?

Japanese Verb List

One of the characteristics of the Japanese language is that the verb generally comes at the end of the sentence.

Japanese has two types of regular verbs:

• consonant stem, godan katsuyō (五段活用?), Group I, or u verbs.
• Vowel stem, ichidan katsuyō (一段活用?), Group II, or ru verbs.

Here is a list of verbs ending in "eru" which are Group 1 Verbs:

English	Group I Japanese Verbs
to act violently	takeru
to attend on	haberu
to be absorbed in	fukeru
to be crooked	kuneru
to be hatched (see kaeru above)	kaeru
to be overturned	kutsugaeru
to be slippery	numeru
to become cloudy	kageru
to become damp	shikeru
to carve	eru
to chatter	daberu
to choose (see eru above)	eru
to compete	seru
to decrease	heru
to decrease	meru
to fall forward	nomeru
to feel hot	hoderu
to flatter	omoneru
to flush, to feel hot	hoteru
to grow thick	shigeru
to hide, lie in ambush	fuseru
to humble oneself	heru
to hurry	aseru
to kick	keru
to lie sprawled	soberu
to pick, play with	seseru
to pinch	tsumeru
to pinch	tsuneru
to return (see kaeru above)	kaeru
to ridicule	azakeru
to ridicule (see eru above)	eru
to rise from the dead	yomigaeru
to root with the nose	useru
to shine	teru
to slip	suberu
to soar	kakeru
to talk, to chat	shaberu
to temper, to refine, to knead	neru
to turn over	kaeru
to turn over, to wave	hirugaeru
to twist	hineru
to undulate	uneru

This is a list of verbs ending in "iru" which are Group 1 Verbs:

English	Group I Japanese Verbs
to abuse verbally	nonoshiru
to be frightened	tamagiru
to be greasy	aburagiru
to be surprised	bibiru
to become misty	kishiru
to become misty	kiru
to become sultry	ikiru
to belittle; to despise	mikubiru
to boil down	iru
to boil, to seethe	tagiru
to come/go - humble	mairu
to curse	kashiru
to cut (see kiru above)	kiru
to dare to	omoikiru
to edge forward	nijiru
to enter	hairu
to fall, sink	ochiiru
to feel depressed	meiru
to fiddle with	ijiru
to gnaw	kajiru
to go in (see iru above)	iru
to gouge, scoop	kujiru
to gouge, wrench	kojiru
to grasp	nigiru
to grip, strangle	kubiru
to grumble	guchiru
to gush	tobashiru
to gush, spurt	hotobashiru
to jeer at	yajiru
to know	shiru
to limit	kagiru
to mess up	dojiru
to mingle	majiru
to muff lines	tochiru
to need (see iru above)	iru
to overflow	minagiru
to parody, to twist	mojiru
to pass by, to drop in	yogiru
to pester for	sebiru
to pick, dig out	hojiru
to pledge	chigiru
to pluck, to pick, to tear	mushiru
to ponder, to contemplate	omoiiru
to rebuke	najiru
to roast (see iru above)	iru
to run	hashiru
to scatter	chiru
to slander	soshiru
to squeak, creak	kishiru
to torment, roast	ibiru
to traverse	yokogiru
to twist	nejiru
to twist, distort	yojiru
to winnow	hiru
to wrench	mogiru
to wriggle	sujiru

This is a list of the most commonly used verbs:

English	Japanese	Romaji		English	Japanese	Romaji
Verbs
Arrive	到着	touchaku		Live	生活する	seikatsu suru
Ask	尋ねる	tazune ru		Look	見る	miru
Be	存在する	sonzai suru		Love	愛	ai
Become	〜になる	~ ninaru		Make	作る	tsukuru
Begin	開始する	kaishi suru		Mean	意味する	imi suru
Break	壊す	kowasu		Meet	会う	au
Bring	持ってくる	motte kuru		Need	必要性	hitsuyousei
Build	建てる	tate ru		Open	開く	hiraku
Burn	燃える	moe ru		Play	遊ぶ	asobu
Buy	買う	kau		Push	プッシュ	pusshu
Call	呼ぶ	yobu		Read	読む	yomu
Choose	選ぶ	erabu		Remember	思い出す	omoidasu
Clean	汚れのない	yogore nonai		Return	戻る	modoru
Close	閉じる	toji ru		Run	走る	hashiru
Come	来る	kuru		Say	言う	iu
Cut	切る	kiru		See	見る	miru
Dance	ダンス	dansu		Sell	売る	uru
Do	する	suru		Send	送る	okuru
Dream	夢	yume		Sit	座る	suwaru
Drink	飲む	nomu		Sleep	眠る	nemuru
Eat	食べる	tabe ru		Speak	話す	hanasu
Fall	落ちる	ochiru		Take	取る	toru
Find	見つける	mitsu keru		Talk	離す	hanasu
Forget	忘れる	wasure ru		Teach	教える	oshie ru
Get	手に入れる	teniire ru		Tell	教える	oshie ru
Go	行く	iku		Think	考える	kangae ru
Hear	聞く	kiku		Understand	理解する	rikai suru
Help	ヘルプ	herupu		Wait	待つ	matsu
Kiss	キス	kisu		Want	欲しい	hoshii
Know	知っている	shitte iru		Work	働く	hataraku
Laugh	笑う	warau