Verb Basics

Role of Verbs

Vocabulary

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