Author: Tae Kim

In Japanese, sometimes there are two types of the same verb often referred to as transitive and intransitive verbs. The difference between the two is that one verb is an action done by an active agent while the other is something that occurs without a direct agent. In English, this is sometimes expressed with the same verb, such as: “The ball dropped” vs “I dropped the ball” but in Japanese it becomes　「ボールが落ちた」 vs 「ボールを落とした」.　Sometimes, the verbs changes when translated into English such as “To put it in the box” (箱に入れる） vs “To enter the box” （箱に入る） but this is only from the differences in the languages. If you think in Japanese, intransitive and transitive verbs have the same meaning except that one indicates that someone had a direct hand in the action (direct object) while the other does not. While knowing the terminology is not important, it is important to know which is which in order to use the correct particle for the correct verb.

Since the basic meaning and the kanji is the same, you can learn two verbs for the price of just one kanji! Let’s look at a sample list of intransitive and transitive verbs.

Pay attention to particles!

The important lesson to take away here is to learn how to use the correct particle for the correct type of verb. It might be difficult at first to grasp which is which when learning new verbs or whether there even is a transitive/intransitive distinction. If you’re not sure, you can always check whether a verb is transitive or intransitive by using an online dictionary such as jisho.org

Examples

1. 私が電気をつけた。
   I am the one that turned on the lights.
2. 電気がついた。
   The lights turned on.
3. 電気を消す。
   Turn off the lights.
4. 電気が消える。
   Lights turn off.
5. 誰が窓を開けた？
   Who opened the window?
6. 窓がどうして開いた？
   Why has the window opened?

The important thing to remember is that intransitive verbs cannot have a direct object because there is no direct acting agent. The following sentences are grammatically incorrect.

1. 電気をついた。
   （「を」 should be replaced with 「が」 or 「は」）
2. 電気を消える。
   （「を」 should be replaced with 「が」 or 「は」）
3. どうして窓を開いた？
   （「を」 should be replaced with 「が」 or 「は」）

The only time you can use the 「を」 particle for intransitive verbs is when a location is the direct object of a motion verb as briefly described in the previous section.

1. 部屋を出た。
   I left room.

In this section, we will learn some new particles essential for using verbs. We will learn how to specify the direct object of a verb and the location where a verb takes place whether it’s physical or abstract.

The direct object 「を」 particle

Vocabulary

1. 魚 【さかな】 – fish
2. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
3. ジュース – juice
4. 飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) – to drink
5. 街 【まち】 – town
6. ぶらぶら – wandering; aimlessly
7. 歩く 【ある・く】 (u-verb) – to walk
8. 高速 【こう・そく】 – high-speed
9. 道路 【どう・ろ】 – route
10. 走る 【はし・る】 (u-verb) – to run
11. 毎日 【まい・にち】 – everyday
12. 日本語 【に・ほん・ご】 – Japanese (language)
13. 勉強 【べん・きょう】 – study
14. する (exception) – to do
15. メールアドレス – email address
16. 登録 【とう・ろく】 – register

The first particle we will learn is the object particle because it is a very straightforward particle. The 「を」 character is attached to the end of a word to signify that that word is the direct object of the verb. This character is essentially never used anywhere else. That is why the katakana equivalent 「ヲ」 is almost never used since particles are always written in hiragana. The 「を」 character, while technically pronounced as /wo/ essentially sounds like /o/ in real speech. Here are some examples of the direct object particle in action.

Examples

1. 魚を食べる。
   Eat fish.
2. ジュースを飲んだ。
   Drank juice.

Unlike the direct object we’re familiar with in English, places can also be the direct object of motion verbs such as 「歩く」 and 「走る」. Since the motion verb is done to the location, the concept of direct object is the same in Japanese. However, as you can see by the next examples, it often translates to something different in English due to the slight difference of the concept of direct object.

1. 街をぶらぶら歩く。
   Aimlessly walk through town. (Lit: Aimlessly walk town)
2. 高速道路を走る。
   Run through expressway. (Lit: Run expressway)

When you use 「する」 with a noun, the 「を」 particle is optional and you can treat the whole [noun+する] as one verb.

1. 毎日、日本語を勉強する。
   Study Japanese everyday.
2. メールアドレスを登録した。
   Registered email address.

The target 「に」 particle

Vocabulary

1. 日本 【に・ほん】 – Japan
2. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
3. 家 【1) うち; 2) いえ】 – 1) one’s own home; 2) house
4. 帰る 【かえ・る】 (u-verb) – to go home
5. 部屋 【へ・や】 – room
6. 来る 【く・る】 (exception) – to come
7. アメリカ – America
8. 宿題 【しゅく・だい】 – homework
9. 今日 【きょう】 – today
10. 明日 【あした】 – tomorrow
11. 猫 【ねこ】 – cat
12. いる (ru-verb) – to exist (animate)
13. いす – chair
14. 台所 【だい・どころ】 – kitchen
15. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
16. いい (i-adj) – good
17. 友達 【とも・だち】 – friend
18. 会う 【あう】 (u-verb) – to meet
19. 医者 【い・しゃ】 – doctor
20. なる (u-verb) – to become
21. 先週 【せん・しゅう】 – last week
22. 図書館 【と・しょ・かん】 – library
23. 来年 【らい・ねん】 – next year

The 「に」 particle can specify a target of a verb. This is different from the 「を」 particle in which the verb does something to the direct object. With the 「に」 particle, the verb does something toward the word associated with the 「に」 particle. For example, the target of any motion verb is specified by the 「に」 particle.

Examples

1. ボブは日本に行った。
   Bob went to Japan.
2. 家に帰らない。
   Not go back home.
3. 部屋にくる。
   Come to room.

As you can see in the last example, the target particle always targets “to” rather than “from”. If you wanted to say, “come from” for example, you would need to use 「から」, which means “from”. If you used 「に」, it would instead mean “come to“. 「から」 is also often paired with 「まで」, which means “up to”.

1. アリスは、アメリカからきた。
   Alice came from America.
2. 宿題を今日から明日までする。
   Will do homework from today to tomorrow.

The idea of a target in Japanese is very general and is not restricted to motion verbs. For example, the location of an object is defined as the target of the verb for existence （ある and いる）. Time is also a common target. Here are some examples of non-motion verbs and their targets

1. 猫は部屋にいる。
   Cat is in room.
2. いすが台所にあった。
   Chair was in the kitchen.
3. いい友達に会った。
   Met good friend.
4. ジムは医者になる。
   Jim will become doctor.
5. 先週に図書館に行った。
   Went to library last week.

Note: Don’t forget to use 「ある」 for inanimate objects such as the chair and 「いる」 for animate objects such as the cat.

While the 「に」 particle is not always required to indicate time, there is a slight difference in meaning between using the target particle and not using anything at all. In the following examples, the target particle makes the date a specific target emphasizing that the friend will go to Japan at that time. Without the particle, there is no special emphasis.

1. 友達は、来年、日本に行く。
   Next year, friend go to Japan.
2. 友達は、来年に日本に行く。
   Friend go to Japan next year.

The directional 「へ」 particle

Vocabulary

1. 日本 【に・ほん】 – Japan
2. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
3. 家 【1) うち; 2) いえ】 – 1) one’s own home; 2) house
4. 帰る 【かえ・る】 (u-verb) – to go home
5. 部屋 【へ・や】 – room
6. 来る 【く・る】 (exception) – to come
7. 医者 【い・しゃ】 – doctor
8. なる (u-verb) – to become
9. 勝ち 【か・ち】 – victory
10. 向かう 【むか・う】 (u-verb) – to face; to go towards

While 「へ」 is normally pronounced /he/, when it is being used as a particle, it is always pronounced /e/ （え）. The primary difference between the 「に」 and 「へ」 particle is that 「に」 goes to a target as the final, intended destination (both physical or abstract). The 「へ」 particle, on the other hand, is used to express the fact that one is setting out towards the direction of the target. As a result, it is only used with directional motion verbs. It also does not guarantee whether the target is the final intended destination, only that one is heading towards that direction. In other words, the 「に」 particle sticks to the destination while the 「へ」 particle is fuzzy about where one is ultimately headed. For example, if we choose to replace 「に」 with 「へ」 in the first three examples of the previous section, the nuance changes slightly.

Examples

1. ボブは日本へ行った。
   Bob headed towards Japan.
2. 家へ帰らない。
   Not go home toward house.
3. 部屋へくる。
   Come towards room.

Note that we cannot use the 「へ」 particle with verbs that have no physical direction. For example, the following is incorrect.

• 医者へなる。
  （Grammatically incorrect version of 「医者になる」.）

This does not mean to say that 「へ」 cannot set out towards an abstract concept. In fact, because of the fuzzy directional meaning of this particle, the 「へ」 particle can also be used to talk about setting out towards certain future goals or expectations.

• 勝ちへ向かう。
  Go towards victory.

The contextual 「で」 particle

Vocabulary

1. 映画館 【えい・が・かん】 – movie theatre
2. 見る 【み・る】 (ru-verb) – to see
3. バス – bus
4. 帰る 【かえ・る】 (u-verb) – to go home
5. レストラン – restaurant
6. 昼ご飯 【ひる・ご・はん】 – lunch
7. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
8. 何 【なに／なん】 – what
9. 暇 【ひま】 – free　(as in not busy)

The 「で」 particle will allow us to specify the context in which the action is performed. For example, if a person ate a fish, where did he eat it? If a person went to school, by what means did she go? With what will you eat the soup? All of these questions can be answered with the 「で」 particle. Here are some examples.

Examples

1. 映画館で見た。
   Saw at movie theater.
2. バスで帰る。
   Go home by bus.
3. レストランで昼ご飯を食べた。
   Ate lunch at restaurant.

It may help to think of 「で」 as meaning “by way of”. This way, the same meaning will kind of translate into what the sentence means. The examples will then read: “Saw by way of movie theater”, “Go home by way of bus”, and “Ate lunch by way of restaurant.”

Using 「で」 with 「何」

The word for “what” （何） is quite annoying because while it’s usually read as 「なに」, sometimes it is read as 「なん」 depending on how it’s used. And since it’s always written in Kanji, you can’t tell which it is. I would suggest sticking with 「なに」 until someone corrects you for when it should be 「なん」. With the 「で」 particle, it is read as 「なに」 as well. (Hold the mouse cursor over the word to check the reading.)

1. 何できた？
   Came by the way of what?
2. バスできた。
   Came by the way of bus.

Here’s the confusing part. There is a colloquial version of the word “why” that is used much more often than the less colloquial version 「どうして」 or the more forceful 「なぜ」. It is also written as 「何で」 but it is read as 「なんで」. This is a completely separate word and has nothing to do with the 「で」 particle.

1. 何できた？
   Why did you come?
2. 暇だから。
   Because I am free (as in have nothing to do).

The 「から」 here meaning “because” is different from the 「から」 we just learned and will be covered later in the compound sentence section. Basically the point is that the two sentences, while written the same way, are read differently and mean completely different things. Don’t worry. This causes less confusion than you think because 95% of the time, the latter is used rather than the former. And even when 「なにで」 is intended, the context will leave no mistake on which one is being used. Even in this short example snippet, you can tell which it is by looking at the answer to the question.

When location is the topic

Vocabulary

1. 学校 【がっ・こう】 – school
2. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
3. 図書館 【と・しょ・かん】 – library
4. どこ – where
5. イタリア – Italy
6. レストラン – restaurant
7. どう – how

There are times when the location of an action is also the topic of a sentence. You can attach the topic particle （「は」 and 「も」） to the three particles that indicate location （「に」、「へ」、「で」） when the location is the topic. We’ll see how location might become the topic in the following examples.

Example 1

ボブ：学校に行った？
Bob: (Did you) go to school?

アリス：行かなかった。
Alice: Didn’t go.

ボブ：図書館には？
Bob: What about library?

アリス：図書館にも行かなかった。
Alice: Also didn’t go to library.

In this example, Bob brings up a new topic (library) and so the location becomes the topic. The sentence is actually an abbreviated version of 「図書館には行った？」 which you can ascertain from the context.

Example 2

ボブ：どこで食べる？
Bob: Eat where?

アリス：イタリアレストランではどう？
Alice: How about Italian restaurant?

Bob asks, “Where shall we eat?” and Alice suggests an Italian restaurant. A sentence like, “How about…” usually brings up a new topic because the person is suggesting something new. In this case, the location (restaurant) is being suggested so it becomes the topic.

When direct object is the topic

Vocabulary

1. 日本語 【に・ほん・ご】 – Japanese (language)
2. 習う 【なら・う】 (u-verb) – to learn

The direct object particle is different from particles related to location in that you cannot use any other particles at the same time. For example, going by the previous section, you might have guessed that you can say 「をは」 to express a direct object that is also the topic but this is not the case. A topic can be a direct object without using the 「を」 particle. In fact, putting the 「を」 particle in will make it wrong.

Examples

1. 日本語を習う。
   Learn Japanese.
2. 日本語は、習う。
   About Japanese, (will) learn it.

Please take care to not make this mistake.

• 日本語をは、習う。
  (This is incorrect.)

Vocabulary used in this section

This is the same list of verbs from the previous practice exercise with a couple additions. We will use mostly the same verbs from the last exercise to practice conjugating to the past and the past negative tense.

Practice with Past Verb Conjugations

We learned how to classify the following verbs in the first verb practice exercise. Now, we are going to put that knowledge to use by conjugating the same verbs into the past tense depending on which type of verb it is. The first answer has been given as an example.

Practice with Past Negative Verb Conjugations

Now, we are going to do the same thing for the past negative verb conjugations.

We will finish defining all the basic properties of verbs by learning how to express the past and past-negative tense of actions. I will warn you in advance that the conjugation rules in this section will be the most complex rules you will learn in all of Japanese. On the one hand, once you have this section nailed, all other rules of conjugation will seem simple. On the other hand, you might need to refer back to this section many times before you finally get all the rules. You will probably need a great deal of practice until you can become familiar with all the different conjugations.

Past tense for ru-verbs

Vocabulary

1. 出る 【で・る】 (ru-verb) – to come out
2. 捨てる 【す・てる】 (ru-verb) – to throw away
3. ご飯 【ご・はん】 – rice; meal
4. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
5. 映画 【えい・が】 – movie
6. 全部 【ぜん・ぶ】 – everything
7. 見る 【み・る】 (ru-verb) – to see

We will start off with the easy ru-verb category. To change a ru-verb from the dictionary form into the past tense, you simply drop the 「る」 and add 「た」.

Examples

1. ご飯は、食べた。
   As for meal, ate.
2. 映画は、全部見た。
   As for movie, saw them all.

Past tense for u-verbs

Vocabulary

1. 話す 【はな・す】 (u-verb) – to speak
2. 書く 【か・く】 (u-verb) – to write
3. 泳ぐ 【およ・ぐ】 (u-verb) – to swim
4. 飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) – to drink
5. 遊ぶ 【あそ・ぶ】 (u-verb) – to play
6. 死ぬ 【し・ぬ】 (u-verb) – to die
7. 切る 【き・る】 (u-verb) – to cut
8. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
9. 持つ 【も・つ】 (u-verb) – to hold
10. する (exception) – to do
11. 来る 【く・る】 (exception) – to come
12. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
13. 今日 【きょう】 – today
14. 走る 【はし・る】 (u-verb) – to run
15. 友達 【とも・だち】 – friend
16. 私 【わたし】 – me, myself, I
17. 勉強 【べん・きょう】 – study

Changing a u-verb from dictionary form to the past tense is difficult because we must break up u-verbs into four additional categories. These four categories depend on the last character of the verb. The table below illustrates the different sub-categories. In addition, there is one exception to the rules, which is the verb 「行く」. I’ve bundled it with the regular exception verbs 「する」 and 「来る」 even though 「行く」 is a regular u-verb in all other conjugations.

* exceptions particular to this conjugation

Examples

1. 今日は、走った。
   As for today, ran.
2. 友達が来た。
   Friend is the one that came.
3. 私も遊んだ。
   I also played.
4. 勉強は、した。
   About study, did it.

Past-negative tense for all verbs

Vocabulary

1. 捨てる 【す・てる】 (ru-verb) – to throw away
2. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
3. 食べる 【たべ・る】 (ru-verb) – to eat
4. する (exception) – to do
5. お金 【お・かね】 – money
6. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
7. 私 【わたし】 – me, myself, I
8. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
9. 猫　【ねこ】 – cat
10. いる (ru-verb) – to exist (animate)

The conjugation rules for the past-negative tense are the same for all verbs. You might have noticed that the negative of just about everything always end in 「ない」. The conjugation rule for the past-negative tense of verbs is pretty much the same as all the other negatives that end in 「ない」. You simply take the negative of any verb, remove the 「い」 from the 「ない」 ending, and replace it with 「かった」.

Examples

1. アリスは食べなかった。
   As for Alice, did not eat.
2. ジムがしなかった。
   Jim is the one that did not do.
3. ボブも行かなかった。
   Bob also did not go.
4. お金がなかった。
   There was no money. (lit: As for money, did not exist.)
5. 私は買わなかった。
   As for me, did not buy.
6. 猫はいなかった。
   There was no cat. (lit: As for cat, did not exist.)

Vocabulary used in this section

This is the same list of verbs from the previous practice exercise. We will use the same verbs from the last exercise to practice conjugating to the negative.

Practice with Negative Verb Conjugations

We learned how to classify the following verbs in the previous practice exercise. Now, we are going to put that knowledge to use by conjugating the same verbs into the negative depending on which type of verb it is. The first answer has been given as an example.

Now that we’ve seen how to declare things and perform actions with verbs, we want to be able to say the negative. In other words, we want to say that such-and-such action was not performed. This is done by conjugating the verb to the negative form just like the state-of-being for nouns and adjectives. However, the rules are a tad more complicated.

Conjugating verbs into the negative

Vocabulary

1. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
2. いる (ru-verb) – to exist (animate)
3. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
4. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
5. 待つ 【ま・つ】 (u-verb) – to wait
6. する (exception) – to do
7. 来る 【く・る】 (exception) – to come
8. 見る 【み・る】 (ru-verb) – to see
9. 寝る 【ね・る】 (ru-verb) – to sleep
10. 起きる 【お・きる】 (ru-verb) – to wake; to occur
11. 考える 【かんが・える】 (ru-verb) – to think
12. 教える 【おし・える】 (ru-verb) – to teach; to inform
13. 出る 【で・る】 (ru-verb) – to come out
14. 着る 【き・る】 (ru-verb) – to wear
15. 話す 【はな・す】 (u-verb) – to speak
16. 聞く 【き・く】 (u-verb) – to ask; to listen
17. 泳ぐ 【およ・ぐ】 (u-verb) – to swim
18. 遊ぶ 【あそ・ぶ】 (u-verb) – to play
19. 飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) – to drink
20. 帰る 【かえ・る】 (u-verb) – to go home
21. 死ぬ 【し・ぬ】 (u-verb) – to die
22. お金 【お・かね】 – money
23. 私 【わたし】 – me, myself, I
24. 猫 【ねこ】 – cat

We will now make use of the verb classifications we learned in the last section to define the rules for conjugation. But before we get into that, we need to cover one very important exception to the negative conjugation rules: 「ある」.

• ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
• いる (ru-verb) – to exist (animate)

「ある」 is an u-verb used to express existence of inanimate objects. The equivalent verb for animate objects (such as people or animals) is 「いる」, which is a normal ru-verb. For example, if you wanted to say that a chair is in the room, you would use the verb 「ある」, but if you wanted to say that a person is in the room, you must use the verb 「いる」 instead. These two verbs 「ある」 and 「いる」 are quite different from all other verbs because they describe existence and are not actual actions. You also need to be careful to choose the correct one based on animate or inanimate objects.

Anyway, the reason I bring it up here is because the negative of 「ある」 is 「ない」 (meaning that something does not exist). The conjugation rules for all other verbs are listed below as well as a list of example verbs and their negative forms.

＊ = exceptions particular to this conjugation

Examples

Here are the example sentences from the last section conjugated to the negative form.

1. アリスは食べない。
   As for Alice, does not eat.
2. ジムが遊ばない。
   Jim is the one that does not play.
3. ボブもしない。
   Bob also does not do.
4. お金がない。
   There is no money. (lit: Money is the thing that does not exist.)
5. 私は買わない。
   As for me, not buy.
6. 猫はいない。
   There is no cat. (lit: As for cat, does not exist.)

Vocabulary used in this section

Here is a list of a few verbs and the accompanying kanji that you will find useful.

Practice with Verb Classification

There’s really not much to do at this point except to practice classifying verbs as either a ru-verb or an u-verb. You can also take this opportunity to learn some useful verbs if you do not know them already. We’ll learn how to conjugate these verbs according to their category in the next few sections.

In the chart below, you should mark whether the given verb is either an u-verb or a ru-verb. The first answer is given as an example of what you need to do. Obviously, verbs that do not end in 「る」 are always going to be u-verbs so the tricky part is figuring out the category for verbs that end in 「る」. Remember that verbs that do not end in “eru” or “iru” will always be u-verbs. While most verbs that do end in “eru” or “iru” are ru-verbs, to make things interesting, I’ve also included a number of u-verbs that also end in eru/iru. Though you do not need to memorize every word in the list by any means, you should at least memorize the basic verbs.

Role of Verbs

Vocabulary

1. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
2. 分かる 【わ・かる】 (u-verb) – to understand
3. 見る 【み・る】 (ru-verb) – to see
4. 寝る 【ね・る】 (ru-verb) – to sleep
5. 起きる 【お・きる】 (ru-verb) – to wake; to occur
6. 考える 【かんが・える】 (ru-verb) – to think
7. 教える 【おし・える】 (ru-verb) – to teach; to inform
8. 出る 【で・る】 (ru-verb) – to come out
9. いる (ru-verb) – to exist (animate)
10. 着る 【き・る】 (ru-verb) – to wear
11. 話す 【はな・す】 (u-verb) – to speak
12. 聞く 【き・く】 (u-verb) – to ask; to listen
13. 泳ぐ 【およ・ぐ】 (u-verb) – to swim
14. 遊ぶ 【あそ・ぶ】 (u-verb) – to play
15. 待つ 【ま・つ】 (u-verb) – to wait
16. 飲む 【の・む】 (u-verb) – to drink
17. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
18. ある (u-verb) – to exist (inanimate)
19. 死ぬ 【し・ぬ】 (u-verb) – to die
20. する (exception) – to do
21. 来る 【く・る】 (exception) – to come
22. お金 【お・かね】 – money
23. 私 【わたし】 – me, myself, I
24. 猫 【ねこ】 – cat

We’ve now learned how to describe nouns in various ways with other nouns and adjectives. This gives us quite a bit of expressive power. However, we still cannot express actions. This is where verbs come in. Verbs, in Japanese, always come at the end of clauses. Since we have not yet learned how to create more than one clause, for now it means that any sentence with a verb must end with the verb. We will now learn the three main categories of verbs, which will allow us to define conjugation rules. Before learning about verbs, there is one important thing to keep in mind.

Or to rephrase, unlike English, the only thing you need to make a grammatically complete sentence is a verb and nothing else! That’s why even the simplest, most basic Japanese sentence cannot be translated into English!

A grammatically complete sentence:

• 食べる。
  Eat. (possible translations include: I eat/she eats/they eat)

Classifying verbs into ru-verbs and u-verbs

Before we can learn any verb conjugations, we first need to learn how verbs are categorized. With the exception of only two exception verbs, all verbs fall into the category of ru-verb or u-verb.

All ru-verbs end in 「る」 while u-verbs can end in a number of u-vowel sounds including 「る」. Therefore, if a verb does not end in 「る」, it will always be an u-verb. For verbs ending in 「る」, if the vowel sound preceding the 「る」 is an /a/, /u/ or /o/ vowel sound, it will always be an u-verb. Otherwise, if the preceding sound is an /i/ or /e/ vowel sound, it will be a ru-verb in most cases. A list of common exceptions are at the end of this section.

Examples

1. 食べる – 「べ」 is an e-vowel sound so it is a ru-verb
2. 分かる – 「か」 is an a-vowel sound so it is an u-verb

If you’re unsure which category a verb falls in, you can verify which kind it is with most dictionaries. There are only two exception verbs that are neither ru-verbs nor u-verbs as shown in the table below.

Examples

Here are some example sentences using ru-verbs, u-verbs, and exception verbs.

1. アリスは食べる。
   As for Alice, eat.
2. ジムが来る。
   Jim is the one that comes.
3. ボブもする。
   Bob also do.
4. お金がある。
   There is money. (lit: Money is the thing that exists.)
5. 私は買う。
   As for me, buy.
6. 猫はいる。
   There is cat. (lit: As for cat, it exists.)

Appendix: iru/eru u-verbs

Vocabulary

1. 要る 【い・る】 (u-verb) – to need
2. 帰る 【かえ・る】 (u-verb) – to go home
3. 切る 【き・る】 (u-verb) – to cut
4. しゃべる (u-verb) – to talk
5. 知る 【し・る】 (u-verb) – to know
6. 入る 【はい・る】 (u-verb) – to enter
7. 走る 【はし・る】 (u-verb) – to run
8. 減る 【へ・る】 (u-verb) – to decrease
9. 焦る 【あせ・る】 (u-verb) – to be in a hurry
10. 限る 【かぎ・る】 (u-verb) – to limit
11. 蹴る 【け・る】 (u-verb) – to kick
12. 滑る 【すべ・る】 (u-verb) – to be slippery
13. 握る 【にぎ・る】 (u-verb) – to grasp
14. 練る 【ね・る】 (u-verb) – to knead
15. 参る 【まい・る】 (u-verb) – to go; to come
16. 交じる 【まじ・る】 (u-verb) – to mingle
17. 嘲る 【あざけ・る】 (u-verb) – to ridicule
18. 覆る 【くつがえ・る】 (u-verb) – to overturn
19. 遮る 【さえぎ・る】 (u-verb) – to interrupt
20. 罵る 【ののし・る】 (u-verb) – to abuse verbally
21. 捻る 【ひね・る】 (u-verb) – to twist
22. 翻る 【ひるが・える】 (u-verb) – to turn over; to wave
23. 滅入る 【めい・る】 (u-verb) – to feel depressed
24. 蘇る 【よみがえ・る】 (u-verb) – to be resurrected

Below is a list of u-verbs with a preceding vowel sound of /i/ or /e/ (“iru” or “eru” sound endings). The list is not comprehensive but it does include many of the more common verbs categorized roughly into three levels.

Vocabulary used in this section

In the following exercises, we will practice the conjugations for adjectives. But first, you might want to learn or review the following useful adjectives that will be used in the exercises.

Conjugation Exercise

We are now going to practice the adjectives conjugations in order. Take each adjective and conjugate it to the following forms: the declarative (when applicable), negative, past, and negative past. In order to emphasize the fact that you can’t use the declarative 「だ」 with i-adjectives, you should just write “n/a” (or just leave it blank) when a conjugation does not apply.

Sentence completion exercise

Now that we’ve practiced the basic conjugations for adjectives, we are going to practice using them in actual sentences using the particles covered in the last section.

Fill in the blank with the appropriate adjective or particle

Sample:

Ｑ）　学生？

Ａ）　ううん、学生じゃない。

Properties of Adjectives

Now that we can connect two nouns together in various ways using particles, we want to describe our nouns with adjectives. An adjective can directly modify a noun that immediately follows it. It can also be connected in the same way we did with nouns using particles. All adjectives fall under two categories: na-adjectives and i-adjectives.

The na-adjective

Vocabulary

1. 静か 【しず・か】 (na-adj) – quiet
2. 人 【ひと】 – person
3. きれい (na-adj) – pretty; clean
4. 友達 【とも・だち】 – friend
5. 親切 【しん・せつ】 (na-adj) – kind
6. 魚 【さかな】 – fish
7. 好き 【す・き】 (na-adj) – likable; desirable
8. 肉 【にく】 – meat
9. 野菜 【や・さい】 – vegetables

The na-adjective is very simple to learn because it acts essentially like a noun. All the conjugation rules for both nouns and na-adjectives are the same. One main difference is that a na-adjective can directly modify a noun following it by sticking 「な」 between the adjective and noun. (Hence the name, na-adjective.)

Examples

1. 静かな人。
   Quiet person.
2. きれいな人。
   Pretty person.

You can also use adjectives with particles just like we did in the last lesson with nouns.

Examples

1. 友達は親切。
   Friend is kind.
2. 友達は親切な人だ。
   Friend is kind person.

As shown by the following examples, the conjugation rules for na-adjectives are the same as nouns.

Examples

1. ボブは魚が好きだ。
   Bob likes fish.
2. ボブは魚が好きじゃない。
   Bob does not like fish.
3. ボブは魚が好きだった。
   Bob liked fish.
4. ボブは魚が好きじゃなかった。
   Bob did not like fish.

If it bothers you that “like” is an adjective and not a verb in Japanese, you can think of 「好き」 as meaning “desirable”. Also, you can see a good example of the topic and identifier particle working in harmony. The sentence is about the topic “Bob” and “fish” identifies specifically what Bob likes.

You can also use the last three conjugations to directly modify the noun. (Remember to attach 「な」 for positive non-past tense.)

Examples

1. 魚が好きな人。
   Person that likes fish.
2. 魚が好きじゃない人。
   Person that does not like fish.
3. 魚が好きだった人。
   Person that liked fish.
4. 魚が好きじゃなかった人。
   Person that did not like fish.

Here, the entire clause 「魚が好き」、「魚が好きじゃない」、etc. is modifying “person” to talk about people that like or dislike fish. You can see why this type of sentence is useful because 「人は魚が好きだ」 would mean “People like fish”, which isn’t always the case.

We can even treat the whole descriptive noun clause as we would a single noun. For instance, we can make the whole clause a topic like the following example.

Examples

1. 魚が好きじゃない人は、肉が好きだ。
   Person who does not like fish like meat.
2. 魚が好きな人は、野菜も好きだ。
   Person who likes fish also likes vegetables.

The i-adjective

Vocabulary

1. 嫌い 【きら・い】 (na-adj) – distasteful, hateful
2. 食べ物 【た・べ・もの】 – food
3. おいしい (i-adj) – tasty
4. 高い 【たか・い】 (i-adj) – high; tall; expensive
5. ビル – building
6. 値段 【ね・だん】 – price
7. レストラン – restaurant
8. あまり／あんまり – not very (when used with negative)
9. 好き 【す・き】 (na-adj) – likable; desirable
10. いい (i-adj) – good

All i-adjectives always end in the Hiragana character: 「い」. However, you may have noticed that some na-adjectives also end in 「い」 such as 「きれい（な）」. So how can you tell the difference? There are actually very few na-adjectives that end with 「い」 that is usually not written in Kanji. Two of the most common include: 「きれい」 and 「嫌い」. Almost all other na-adjectives that end in 「い」 are usually written in Kanji and so you can easily tell that it’s not an i-adjective. For instance, 「きれい」 written in Kanji looks like 「綺麗」 or 「奇麗」. Since the 「い」 part of 「麗」 is part of a Kanji character, you know that it can’t be an i-adjective. That’s because the whole point of the 「い」 in i-adjectives is to allow conjugation without changing the Kanji. In fact, 「嫌い」 is one of the rare na-adjectives that ends in 「い」 without a Kanji. This has to do with the fact that 「嫌い」 is actually derived from the verb 「嫌う」.

Unlike na-adjectives, you do not need to add 「な」 to directly modify a noun with an i-adjective.

Examples

1. 嫌いな食べ物。
   Hated food.
2. おいしい食べ物。
   Tasty food.

Remember how the negative state-of-being for nouns also ended in 「い」 （じゃない）? Well, just like the negative state-of-being for nouns, you can never attach the declarative 「だ」 to i-adjectives.

Now that we got that matter cleared up, below are the rules for conjugating i-adjectives. Notice that the rule for conjugating to negative past tense is the same as the rule for the past tense.

Examples

1. 高いビル。
   Tall building.
2. 高くないビル。
   Not tall building.
3. 高かったビル。
   Building that was tall.
4. 高くなかったビル。
   Building that was not tall.

Note that you can make the same type of descriptive noun clause as we have done with na-adjectives. The only difference is that we don’t need 「な」 to directly modify the noun.

Example

• 値段が高いレストランはあまり好きじゃない。
  Don’t like high price restaurants very much.

In this example, the descriptive clause 「値段が高い」 is directly modifying 「レストラン」.

An annoying exception

Vocabulary

1. 値段 【ね・だん】 – price
2. あまり／あんまり – not very (when used with negative)
3. いい (i-adj) – good
4. 彼 【かれ】 – he; boyfriend
5. かっこいい (i-adj) – cool; handsome

There is one i-adjective meaning “good” that acts slightly differently from all other i-adjectives. This is a classic case of how learning Japanese is harder for beginners because the most common and useful words also have the most exceptions. The word for “good” was originally 「よい（良い）」. However, with time, it soon became 「いい」. When it is written in Kanji, it is usually read as 「よい」 so 「いい」 is almost always Hiragana. That’s all fine and good. Unfortunately, all the conjugations are still derived from 「よい」 and not 「いい」. This is shown in the next table.

Another adjective that acts like this is 「かっこいい」 because it is an abbreviated version of two words merged together: 「格好」 and 「いい」. Since it uses the same 「いい」, you need to use the same conjugations.

Take care to make all the conjugations from 「よい」 not 「いい」.

Examples

1. 値段があんまりよくない。
   Price isn’t very good.
2. 彼はかっこよかった！
   He looked really cool!