Verb Basics

Vocabulary

  1. 食べる 【た・べる】 (ru-verb) – to eat
  2. 見る 【み・る】 (ru-verb) – to see, watch
  3. 起きる 【お・きる】 (ru-verb) – to wake up
  4. 寝る 【ね・る】 (ru-verb) – to sleep
  5. 行く 【い・く】 (u-verb) – to go
  6. 書く 【か・く】 (u-verb) – to write
  7. 話す 【はな・す】 (u-verb) – to speak
  8. 読む 【よ・む】 (u-verb) – to read
  9. 買う 【か・う】 (u-verb) – to buy
  10. する (irregular) – to do
  11. 来る 【く・る】 (irregular) – to come

Japanese verbs always come at the end of the clause. There are two main categories of verbs: Ru-verbs and U-verbs.

Ru-verbs (Class 2)

To conjugate these, you simply drop the る and add the suffix.

Examples

  • 食べる - to eat
  • 見る - to see
  • 起きる - to wake up
  • 寝る - to sleep

U-verbs (Class 1)

These end in a u-sound (not necessarily just the character う). To conjugate, you often change the vowel sound.

Examples

  • 行く - to go
  • 書く - to write
  • 話す - to speak
  • 読む - to read

Irregular Verbs

There are only two main irregular verbs:

  1. する - to do
  2. 来る - to come

Dictionary Form

The basic form found in the dictionary is often called the “dictionary form” or “plain form”. It represents the non-past (present/future) affirmative tense.

Examples

  • 食べる - eat / will eat
  • 行く - go / will go
  • 読む - read / will read
  • 買う - buy / will buy