Verbs are one of the most important part of speech in Japanese! Here are the eight fundamental rules you need to know for understanding the verbs in Japanese.
- Japanese verbs are always placed at the end of the sentence.
Example:
牛乳を飲みます。
Gyūnyū o nomimasu.
(I) drink milk.
- The same form of Japanese verbs is used regardless of which personal pronouns were used. Thus, the verb 飲みます (nomimasu) can be used whether the subject is I or you, he or she, or even we or they.
私は牛乳を飲みます。
Watashi wa gyūnyū o nomimasu.
I drink milk.
あなたは牛乳を飲みます。
Anata wa gyūnyū o nomimasu.
You drink milk.
彼は牛乳を飲みます。
Kare wa gyūnyū o nomimasu.
He drinks milk.
彼女は牛乳を飲みます。
Kanojo wa gyūnyū o nomimasu.
She drinks milk.
私達は牛乳を飲みます。
Watashitachi wa gyūnyū o nomimasu.
We drink milk.
彼らは牛乳を飲みます。
Kare-ra wa gyūnyū o nomimasu.
They drink milk.
- Verbs are often used without pronouns when it is clear who is the subject by the context. A sentence can be considered as grammatically complete sentence even when there is only verb in the sentence. Learn them well as the verb is probably the most important part of speech in Japanese!
飲みます。
Nomimasu.
Drink (I drink, you drink, he drinks, she drinks, we drink, they drink).
- There are only two tenses in Japanese: a present and a past. There is no true future tense in Japanese – future tense is expressed by the present tense as well.
牛乳を飲みます。
Gyūnyū o nomimasu.
(I) drink milk.
牛乳を飲みました。
Gyūnyū o nomimashita.
(I) drank milk.
- Unlike English, we cannot simply add ‘no’ or ‘not’ to indicate negative sentences in Japanese. There are the special verbs to express them as in:
牛乳を飲みません。
Gyūnyū o nomimasen.
(I) do not drink milk.
牛乳を飲みませんでした。
Gyūnyū o nomimasen deshita.
(I) did not drink milk.
- There are roughly three different of politeness in Japanese: the plain form, the polite form, and the advanced polite form. All the examples above (rule one until rule five) part of the polite form examples, which can be used with almost anyone in everyday conversation. For talking with your family or close friends, use the following plain forms.
牛乳を飲む。
Gyūnyū o nomu.
(I) drink milk.
牛乳を飲まない。
Gyūnyū o nomanai.
(I) do not drink milk.
牛乳を飲んだ。
Gyūnyū o nonda.
(I) drank milk.
牛乳を飲まなかった。
Gyūnyū o nomanakatta.
(I) did not drink milk.
- Japanese verbs are generally divided into three groups: ru-verbs, u-verbs, and irregular verbs (We will discuss in more detail later). In short, ru-verbs and u-verbs are called so because they are composed of ‘verb stem’ along with the suffixes ‘ru’ or ‘u’. Fortunately, there are only two irregular verbs in Japanese, 来る (kuru) : to come and する (suru): to do.
Examples of ru-verbs:
食べる
Taberu
To eat
見る
Miru
To see
Examples of u-verbs:
飲む
Nomu
To drink
買う
Kau
To buy
The two irregular verbs:
来る
Kuru
To come
する
Suru
To do
- The three group of verbs in Japanese allow us to define the verb conjugation rules. Japanese is extremely rich in terms of verb conjugation – there are special forms from desire, potential, and so on.
[Desire Form]
牛乳を飲みたい。
Gyūnyū o nomitai.
I want to drink milk.
[Potential]
牛乳を飲めます。
Gyūnyū o nomemasu.
I can drink milk.
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