Japanese Verb Conjugation: A Beginner’s Guide with Charts

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Japanese verb conjugation looks unfamiliar at first, but it is regular in ways that English is not. Verbs do not change for person or number, so the same form can work with “I”, “you”, “she” or “they”. Most of the work is learning which verb group you have and how that group changes.

This guide covers the forms a beginner will meet most often: polite and plain non-past, polite and plain past, negative forms, and the て-form. The charts include Japanese script and romanisation, but learning the kana will make the patterns much easier to see.

If you need that foundation first, start with the hiragana guide and hiragana chart.

What to Know Before You Start

Japanese verbs change for features such as time, polarity and politeness, but not for the subject. For example, 食べます (tabemasu) can mean “I eat”, “you eat” or “they eat”; the subject and context tell you who is eating.

You will often see forms labelled “present” in beginner materials. A more precise term is non-past, because forms such as 食べる (taberu) and 食べます (tabemasu) can refer to habitual, present or future situations:

• 毎日パンを食べます。(Mainichi pan o tabemasu.) “I eat bread every day.”
• 明日パンを食べます。(Ashita pan o tabemasu.) “I’ll eat bread tomorrow.”

It also helps to separate form from style. A verb can be in plain form inside an otherwise polite sentence, especially before a noun or in a subordinate clause. “Plain form” does not simply mean “language you use with friends”. The Japan Foundation’s Irodori grammar notes make the same distinction between a verb’s plain form and a whole sentence’s plain style.

For more context on sentence structure, see the guides to Japanese grammar and Japanese particles.

How Many Japanese Verb Conjugations Are There?

There is no single useful total. A textbook may count dictionary, ます, ない, た and て as separate basic forms, then introduce potential, passive, causative, conditional, volitional and other forms later. Japanese also allows forms and helper expressions to combine.

For a beginner, memorising a dramatic total is less useful than learning a small set of dependable transformations. Once you can identify the verb group, the same patterns apply to many verbs.

The Three Japanese Verb Groups

Beginner courses usually organise verbs into three groups:

• Godan verbs (五段動詞, godan dōshi), also called Group 1 or u-verbs
• Ichidan verbs (一段動詞, ichidan dōshi), also called Group 2 or ru-verbs
• Irregular verbs, usually Group 3: する (suru) and 来る (kuru) and compounds built with them

The labels “u-verb” and “ru-verb” are teaching shortcuts. Every Japanese dictionary-form verb ends in a kana from the う-row, and some godan verbs also end in る, so the spelling alone does not always settle the group.

Godan Verbs, or U-Verbs

With a godan verb, the final kana moves between vowel rows as the verb changes. Here are examples with several different endings:

• 話す (hanasu), “to speak”
• 飲む (nomu), “to drink”
• 死ぬ (shinu), “to die”
• 聞く (kiku), “to hear” or “to ask”
• 遊ぶ (asobu), “to play”
• 買う (kau), “to buy”
• 待つ (matsu), “to wait”
• 帰る (kaeru), “to return”

For example, the final む of 飲む changes to み before ます, giving 飲みます (nomimasu), and to ま before ない, giving 飲まない (nomanai). This movement through five vowel rows is behind the name godan, “five-grade”.

Ichidan Verbs, or Ru-Verbs

Ichidan verbs end in る. To make the forms in this guide, you normally remove that る and add the new ending:

• 食べる (taberu), “to eat”
• 見る (miru), “to see”
• 出る (deru), “to leave” or “to come out”
• 寝る (neru), “to sleep”
• 起きる (okiru), “to get up”
• 調べる (shiraberu), “to investigate”

Most ichidan verbs have an i or e sound immediately before る, as in 見る and 食べる. That is a useful clue, not a complete rule. Common godan exceptions include 走る (hashiru, “to run”), 帰る (kaeru, “to return”), 要る (iru, “to need”), 切る (kiru, “to cut”), 知る (shiru, “to know”), 入る (hairu, “to enter”) and 喋る (shaberu, “to chat”).

When you learn a new る-ending verb, check its group in a dictionary and record a diagnostic form such as ます or ない with it.

Irregular Verbs

Beginner conjugation tables usually place two verbs in the irregular group:

• する (suru), “to do”
• 来る (kuru), “to come”

Their compounds follow the same patterns, as in 勉強する (benkyō suru, “to study”). You will also encounter particular exceptions outside this group. For example, the plain negative of ある (aru, “to exist” for inanimate things) is ない (nai), and several honorific verbs have special ます-forms. So “Group 3 contains する and 来る” is more precise than claiming that Japanese has exactly two irregularities.

Polite and Plain Non-Past Forms

The polite non-past form ends in ます. It is common in polite conversation and complete polite sentences. The plain non-past affirmative is the dictionary form.

For 食べる, the base left after removing る is 食べ (tabe). For 飲む, it is safer for a beginner to describe the visible kana change, 飲む → 飲みます, than to invent an English-letter stem such as “nom”. Japanese analyses use several different stem labels depending on the form and grammar framework.

Politeness also depends on the whole sentence and situation. You may use plain style with close friends, but plain forms also occur inside polite speech: 日本で買った本です (Nihon de katta hon desu), “It is a book that I bought in Japan.” The relative clause uses plain 買った even though the sentence ends politely with です.

Polite and Plain Past Forms

For the polite past, change ます to ました. The plain past is the た-form. Ichidan verbs are straightforward; godan verbs follow a pattern based on their final kana.

行く (iku, “to go”) is the important exception to the く pattern: it becomes 行った (itta), rather than the form 行いた (iita) that the regular rule would predict. The Japan Foundation’s guide to the た-form shows the same group patterns and exception.

The polite forms follow one simpler pattern:

• 食べます → 食べました (tabemasu → tabemashita)
• 飲みます → 飲みました (nomimasu → nomimashita)
• します → しました (shimasu → shimashita)
• 来ます → 来ました (kimasu → kimashita)

Negative Forms: ません, ませんでした, ない and なかった

For polite negative forms, change ます to ません for non-past and ませんでした for past. For plain negatives, use ない and なかった.

To make a godan plain negative, move the final kana to the あ-row and add ない. Verbs ending in う use わ, not あ: 買う → 買わない (kau → kawanai). The past plain negative changes ない to なかった: 買わない → 買わなかった (kawanai → kawanakatta).

Remember the separate exception ある → ない. The regular rule would predict あらない, but that is not the standard form.

The Japanese て-Form

The て-form connects clauses and appears in many constructions, including requests, sequences of actions, permission and ～ている. It is not a tense by itself. I’ve also written a fuller guide to the Japanese て-form.

The pattern closely matches the た-form: て corresponds to た, and で corresponds to だ. 行く is exceptional here too, becoming 行って (itte), rather than the regularly predicted 行いて (iite).

Japanese Verb Conjugation Practice

Choose one verb from each group and build a small chart. Say each form aloud and use it in a short sentence. Here is a model with 食べる:

Now try 行く (iku), 帰る (kaeru), できる (dekiru), 言う (iu), 持つ (motsu), 寝る (neru), 学ぶ (manabu), 会う (au), 見る (miru) and 起きる (okiru). This set makes you identify groups and remember the 行く exception.

Check the verb group and readings in Jisho, then compare your forms with the rules above. A dictionary check matters most for verbs ending in る, because the ending alone can mislead you.

Keep Practising Japanese Verb Conjugation

Learn forms as part of a sentence, not as an isolated recital. When you meet a new verb, record its dictionary form, group, polite form, plain negative and て-form. Those entries reveal most of the patterns you will need next.

For guided drills and feedback, see The Language Gym. You can also continue with core Japanese words, my podcast episode about learning Japanese through Netflix, or the beginner’s guide to kanji.