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Re: How Japanese Verbs Work

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ForeverAlonezey is not online. ForeverAlonezey
Joined: 15 Jul 2013
Total Posts: 4953
25 Jan 2016 08:38 PM
Introduction
A lot of textbooks and websites try to teach you functional Japanese and ignore the grittier parts of the grammar. Unfortunately, this means many learners miss out of the structure and beauty (and structure!) of Japanese that, while complex, might help put things into place. This primer is designed to get you more familiar with what is actually going on with Japanese conjugations. It won't cover everything and may even tell some "simple truths" (aka, white lies you'll unlearn later) but it will get you started on achieving a deeper understanding of Japanese verbs.
There are some English language sites that give a decent introduction to verbs. imabi.net and nihongoresources.com come to mind. This primer differs mainly in how it approaches auxiliary verbs.
Types of Verbs
In Japanese there are four types of verbs (動詞), each with their own conjugation (活用). These are:
一段活用
五段活用
サ行変格活用
カ行変格活用.
The first two are often referred to as -ru verbs and -u verbs, or Group 2 and Group 1, etc., and the latter two take care of the verbs する and 来る, respectively.
Conjugation Bases
In modern Japanese each 活用 has five conjugation bases (活用形). These are:
未然形
連用形
連体形
仮定形 (or 已然形)
命令形
These are presented in this order because this is the order Japanese dictionaries will use to show conjugation of certain verbs. There is sometimes a sixth category, the 終止形, which is identical to and has merged with the 連体形. If listed, it is listed immediately before the 連体形.
The 連体形 is often called the dictionary form because it is the form you need to look a verb up. This is true for Japanese dictionaries as well. This base will be used to identify verbs throughout this primer.
One should note that 形容詞 (i-adjectives) also conjugate using the same bases, but this will not be discussed here.
Conjugation Bases and Auxiliary Verbs
When you see a verb like 食べる conjugated to 食べて, it is actually a conjugation base plus an auxiliary verb (助動詞). While English uses separate words like "can" and "will" for auxiliary verbs, Japanese likes to attach these auxiliaries directly to the above bases.
In this case, we have the 連用形 of 食べる, which is 食べ, plus the auxiliary verb つ. Why isn't it 食べつ then?
Because auxiliary verbs have bases too.
In this case, て is the 連用形 of つ. Because auxiliary verbs conjugate into bases, we can also attach further auxiliary verbs to them to convey additional meaning. For example [{食べる→食べ} + {られる→られ} + {た}] = 食べられた.
Realizing that all verbs can be described as [{conjugation base of main verb} + {conjugation base of auxiliary verb}] is an important step. Once you realize which endings you have learned are actually just different conjugations of the same auxiliary, perhaps you will be able to make connections that add meaning to their uses. For example, 食べた and 食べたら are both the 連用形 of 食べる plus a form of the auxiliary た (the 連体形 and 已然形, respectively).
What is each Conjugation Base used for?
English grammar is usually described using terms borrowed from Latin grammar. These terms do not always fit Japanese so they will not be explored in depth, but the bases can be described as follows. Also included are auxiliary verbs commonly used with each base. This is not an exhaustive list but it should give you a basic reference point.
活用形 English nomenclature Common auxiliary verbs
未然形 imperfect ない, ぬ / ん, れる / られる, せる / させる, う/よう
連用形 continuative ます, た, て, たい, なさい
連体形 attributive -
仮定形 hypothetical ば
命令形 imperative -
Although the 連体形 is called the attributive (meaning it modifies something, giving that thing a new attribute), it is also the affirmative, non-past. That's because, as noted earlier, it merged with the 終止形 (predicative form).
Actual Conjugations
一段活用
Let's take a look at the actual conjugation bases of 一段活用 (hereafter, 一段) verbs.
活用形 見る 食べる
未然形 見 食べ
連用形 見 食べ
連体形 見る 食べる
仮定形 見れ 食べれ
命令形 見ろ / 見よ 食べろ / 食べよ
五段活用
Here is one example of each ending: く, ぐ, す, つ, ぬ, ぶ, む, る, and う.
活用形 書く 泳ぐ 戻す 打つ 死ぬ 遊ぶ 飲む 怒る 笑う
未然形 書か 泳が 戻さ 打た 死な 遊ば 飲ま 怒ら 笑わ
連用形 書き 泳ぎ 戻し 打ち 死に 遊び 飲み 怒り 笑い
連体形 書く 泳ぐ 戻す 打つ 死ぬ 遊ぶ 飲む 怒る 笑う
仮定形 書け 泳げ 戻せ 打て 死ね 遊べ 飲め 怒れ 笑え
命令形 書け 泳げ 戻せ 打て 死ね 遊べ 飲め 怒れ 笑え
The above table is presented as is to make the pattern easy to see. It's also our first simple truth because we are ignoring the elisions that commonly happen in the 未然形 and 連用形 in modern Japanese.
サ行変格活用
Often just called サ変 for short, this covers the irregular verb する and its family (す, ずる). We will also add the auxiliary ます here. Although it is not actually a サ変 verb it conjugates similarly.
活用形 する -ます
未然形 し / せ / さ -ませ / -ましょ
連用形 し -まし
連体形 する -ます
仮定形 すれ -ますれ
命令形 しろ / せよ -ませ / -まし
カ行変格活用
カ変 only covers the verb くる.
活用形 来る
未然形 こ
連用形 き
連体形 くる
仮定形 くれ
命令形 こい
Verbs in Action (Examples)
So far you've probably seen way more information than you can remember in one sitting. That's fine - the idea is to draw connections between bits and pieces that you've probably never had properly explained. You don't need to memorize every chart, but let's take a look at some examples to get a better idea of how this actually all works.
カレーライスをよく食べます
Here we have the 一段 verb 食べる and the auxiliary verb ます whose conjugations we saw above. ます connects to the 連用形 and, because this sentence is affirmative, non-past, we simply use the 連体形 of ます. There are no further auxiliaries needed. [{食べる→食べ} + {ます}]
Now let's make a negative, non-past sentence.
映画をあまり見ません
[{見る→見} + {ます}] should be easy. The negative is formed by adding another auxiliary verb. In this case, we use ぬ, the classical verb of negation, which attaches to the 未然形. ぬ can also be shortened to just ん for euphonic reasons and, in the case of ます, ん is always used instead of ぬ. Now we have [{見る→見} + {ます→ませ} + {ん}].
晩御飯を食べずに、寝た
Here we have the auxiliary ぬ again. Where? Well, some auxiliaries are tricky. In this case, the 連用形 of ぬ is ず. Considering that the sentence does not end at the negative 食べず, perhaps you can see why the 連用形 is called the continuative form. ぬ, in any form, still connects to the 未然形. [{食べる→食べ} + {ぬ→ず}].
We also have 寝る, another 一段 verb, along with the auxiliary た, which expresses past tense. We use the 連用形 of 寝る and, because the auxiliary た is the predicate, it remains in the 連体形. [{寝る→寝} + {た}].
映画を見てきた
Now we have the continuative auxiliary つ, conjugated to its 連用形, て. A lot of beginners wonder why the "verb stem" (連用形) and the て-form (連用形 of つ) function the same. Hopefully this sheds light on that. We get [{見る→見} + {つ→て}]. We also have the verb くる, our only カ変 verb, which is again the 連用形 plus the past auxiliary た. [{くる→き} + {た}].
Let's take a look at a 五段 verb.
今日学校に行かない
The auxiliary ない, which performs the same role as ぬ (ん) that we saw above, also attaches to the 未然形. [{行く→行か} + {ない}]. ない conjugates like a 形容詞 so we are going to ignore further conjugations for now.
未来に医者になりたい
The auxiliary たい, like ない, conjugates like a 形容詞. However, たい attaches to the 連用形. [{なる→なり} + {たい}].
Let's look at more 五段 verbs but also cover auxiliaries that chain.
ボールが打たれた
The passive auxiliary れる attaches to the 未然形 of 打つ. れる (as well as its partner for 一段 verbs, られる) conjugates just like an 一段 verb. To add the past auxiliary た we do exactly what we did above with 寝る. [{打つ→打た} + {れる→れ} + {た}].
You will see a lot of auxiliaries that, when they chain, make 五段 verbs look like 一段 verbs. In addition to the passive れる, the causative せる does the same. The same is true for the 五段 potential form, but because its conjugation is a bit of an outlier, we will skip it for now.
ボールが打たれたら、歓声を上げる
We have almost the same conjugation as above, but this time we've conjugated た to its 已然形, たら. That gives us the conditional form of the past auxiliary. [{打つ→打た} + {れる→れ} + {た→たら}]. Perhaps understanding this will help you remember some of the nuance between different conditionals (e.g., ~したら and ~すれば).
There are many more conjugation and auxiliary pairs but this is a primer, not an exhaustive reference.
Just for reference, here are the conjugations of the few auxiliaries we've seen so far. I've included the 終止形 because it is necessary for つ (which is actually the 終止形) because the 終止形 and 連体形 never merged as you will see. This is really only an issue for classical Japanese because modern Japanese only uses the 連用形 (て).
活用形 ます ぬ た つ ない たい れる / られる せる / させる
未然形 ませ / ましょ - たろ て なかろ たかろ れ / られ せ / させ
連用形 まし ず (ん) - て なく / なかっ たく / たかっ れ / られ せ / させ
終止形 ます ぬ (ん) た つ ない たい れる / られる せる / させる
連体形 ます ぬ (ん) た つる ない たい れる / られる せる / させる
已然形 ますれ ね たら つれ なけれ たけれ れれ / られれ せれ / させれ
命令形 ませ / まし - - てよ - - れろ / られろ せろ / させろ
I'm going to end this here. Hopefully you've seen enough examples that some of the connections are starting to make sense.
Feel free to ask questions in the comments. If this has been helpful, there may be a part two that covers some of the exceptions and simple truths told here. I haven't written anything yet, though, so it will depend on my free time and the reception to this post.
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Xeltol is not online. Xeltol
Joined: 07 Jun 2010
Total Posts: 310
25 Jan 2016 08:39 PM
i dont feel like reading this man


heh http://forum.roblox.com/Forum/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=182417699
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ForeverAlonezey is not online. ForeverAlonezey
Joined: 15 Jul 2013
Total Posts: 4953
25 Jan 2016 08:40 PM
That's the thing, this isn't actually way deeper than what most Japanese know. This is exactly what ALL Japanese know just like YOU know what a noun and a preposition are. They learn these in school, they aren't used for English. They're used in English while speaking about Japanese grammar. That's why you don't know what they are. Japanese study their language in a different manner than we study our own.
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traxxasnick is not online. traxxasnick
Joined: 28 Aug 2013
Total Posts: 37129
25 Jan 2016 08:41 PM
very tl;dr



www.roblox.com/Siggy-item?id=278816046 www.roblox.com/SM64-Theme-item?id=1280470
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duncan285 is not online. duncan285
Joined: 20 Jun 2014
Total Posts: 649
25 Jan 2016 08:41 PM
這是所有關於中國


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ForeverAlonezey is not online. ForeverAlonezey
Joined: 15 Jul 2013
Total Posts: 4953
25 Jan 2016 08:43 PM
Duncan, you are speaking Chinese.
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HeliosErebus is not online. HeliosErebus
Joined: 26 Oct 2015
Total Posts: 333
25 Jan 2016 08:44 PM
weeaboo



The thing about common sense, It's not very common ....
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jasdevil7 is not online. jasdevil7
Joined: 10 Apr 2009
Total Posts: 2758
25 Jan 2016 08:45 PM
it's really important to get this down. this is elementary japanese lol.
although you can get by in japan by just pointing at stuff and shouting 'this!'
source: attended shinkou gakuen shinkou koko in Kobe, Japan for 5 months
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MemeChild is not online. MemeChild
Joined: 02 Sep 2013
Total Posts: 4696
25 Jan 2016 08:46 PM
私は大爆笑翻訳使用しています読み取りますその後、私たちに小さいスレッドを与えます




It's a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing,flowers are blooming.......On days like these, kids like you... S h o u l d b e b u r n i n g i n h e l l .
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ForeverAlonezey is not online. ForeverAlonezey
Joined: 15 Jul 2013
Total Posts: 4953
25 Jan 2016 08:47 PM
I will fire ball jitsu you so hard you wish you'd never had said that.
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ZhangTheUltralisk is not online. ZhangTheUltralisk
Joined: 13 Jun 2015
Total Posts: 1745
25 Jan 2016 08:48 PM
only in high school they would teach you this stuff.
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MemeChild is not online. MemeChild
Joined: 02 Sep 2013
Total Posts: 4696
25 Jan 2016 08:48 PM
ok?



It's a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing,flowers are blooming.......On days like these, kids like you... S h o u l d b e b u r n i n g i n h e l l .
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ForeverAlonezey is not online. ForeverAlonezey
Joined: 15 Jul 2013
Total Posts: 4953
25 Jan 2016 08:48 PM
Stop using google translate, you American plebs.
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catman8321 is online. catman8321
Joined: 31 Mar 2011
Total Posts: 18719
25 Jan 2016 08:48 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGbFNg-OVw4


http://www.roblox.com/3-item?id=315104636http://www.roblox.com/3-item?id=315104824http://www.roblox.com/3-item?id=315105015


http://www.roblox.com/3-item?id=315104636http://www.roblox.com/3-item?id=315104824http://www.roblox.com/3-item?id=315105015
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MemeChild is not online. MemeChild
Joined: 02 Sep 2013
Total Posts: 4696
25 Jan 2016 08:49 PM
ok i will deport u



It's a beautiful day outside. Birds are singing,flowers are blooming.......On days like these, kids like you... S h o u l d b e b u r n i n g i n h e l l .
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ForeverAlonezey is not online. ForeverAlonezey
Joined: 15 Jul 2013
Total Posts: 4953
25 Jan 2016 08:51 PM
Unlike you baka americans, I can tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Arabic.
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zacktrey001 is not online. zacktrey001
Joined: 03 Dec 2011
Total Posts: 5590
25 Jan 2016 08:51 PM
Weeaboo



PK post!
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catman8321 is online. catman8321
Joined: 31 Mar 2011
Total Posts: 18719
25 Jan 2016 08:52 PM
"Unlike you baka americans, I can tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Arabic."

Guess what OP, we don't care that you can now watch all the anime with out subtitles. And we both know you are not Japanese.


http://www.roblox.com/3-item?id=315104636http://www.roblox.com/3-item?id=315104824http://www.roblox.com/3-item?id=315105015
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ForeverAlonezey is not online. ForeverAlonezey
Joined: 15 Jul 2013
Total Posts: 4953
25 Jan 2016 08:54 PM
馬鹿よ。 私は馬鹿じゃありません。
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catman8321 is online. catman8321
Joined: 31 Mar 2011
Total Posts: 18719
25 Jan 2016 08:55 PM
"You little rant"

Face the facts, you are not Japanese. You might dress like it, know the language, and eat out every night. But you are not Japanese.


http://www.roblox.com/3-item?id=315104636http://www.roblox.com/3-item?id=315104824http://www.roblox.com/3-item?id=315105015
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ForeverAlonezey is not online. ForeverAlonezey
Joined: 15 Jul 2013
Total Posts: 4953
25 Jan 2016 08:57 PM
"You little rant"
Lol? Where did you get that from? Google translate?
Also, you can't prove I'm not Japanese.
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catman8321 is online. catman8321
Joined: 31 Mar 2011
Total Posts: 18719
25 Jan 2016 08:59 PM
"Lol? Where did you get that from? Google translate?
Also, you can't prove I'm not Japanese."

You use an awful a lot of slang and made up words. Any non native speaker would have no idea what they mean.


http://www.roblox.com/3-item?id=315104636http://www.roblox.com/3-item?id=315104824http://www.roblox.com/3-item?id=315105015
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catman8321 is online. catman8321
Joined: 31 Mar 2011
Total Posts: 18719
25 Jan 2016 09:02 PM
You are not going to defend yourself? I'm cool with that.


http://www.roblox.com/3-item?id=315104636http://www.roblox.com/3-item?id=315104824http://www.roblox.com/3-item?id=315105015
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zacktrey001 is not online. zacktrey001
Joined: 03 Dec 2011
Total Posts: 5590
26 Jan 2016 08:05 PM
gg



PK post!
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ForeverAlonezey is not online. ForeverAlonezey
Joined: 15 Jul 2013
Total Posts: 4953
29 Jan 2016 11:11 PM
"awful alot of slang"
maybe if you actually understood some basic japanese then maybe you would know.
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