Verb Conjugation ru -Verbs u -Verbs Indeterminancy of eru / iru -ending Verbs Irregular Verbs

1. Class Session 10b Chapter 7 • Verb Conjugation • ru-Verbs • u-Verbs • Indeterminancy of eru/iru-ending Verbs • Irregular Verbs • Some Slightly Irregular Verbs • Making the Polite Present Negative Forms of Verbs • Some Useful Action Verbs Japanese 1100-L10b-07-12-2012

2. Verb Conjugation • Compared with other foreign languages, Japanese verbs conjugate systematically • There are only two irregular verbs to contend with (suru, to do and kuru, to come) • Some honorific verb forms are also irregular but are not discussed in Japanese-1100 • Several verbs undergo slight sound changes in some forms • The copular verb desu has very different forms (and is not discussed in this chapter) • Japanese is called an agglutinating language: verbs are conjugated by adding multiple suffixes to the verb stem • In addition to the irregular verbs there are only two types of verbs in Japanese: • ru-verbs (sometimes called ru-dropping) • u-verbs (sometimes called u-dropping) Japanese 1100-L10b-07-12-2012

3. ru-Verbs • Most forms of ru-verbs are created after dropping the –ru from the dictionary form • (plain present affirmative form) • The vowel that remains after dropping –ru will always be e or i • For example, the ru-verb taberu (to eat): • Drop the –ru to form the stem: taberu → tabe • Add nai to form the plain negative tabe + nai → tabenai • Add masu to form the polite present tabe + masu → tabemasu • Add masen to form the polite negative tabe + masen → tabemasen • Examples: • Plain Present Plain Present Polilte Present • Affirmative Negative Affirmative • taberu (to eat) tabenaitabemasu • neru (to sleep) nenainemasu • miru (to look) minaimimasu Japanese 1100-L10b-07-12-2012

4. u-verbs • Most forms of u-verbs (also called u-dropping verbs) are created from their dictionary form • by dropping the –u and adding one or more suffixes • For example, the u-verb kaeru (to return): • Drop the –u to form the stem: kaeru → [kaer]1 • Add anai to form the plain negative kaer + anai → kaeranai • Add imasu to form the polite present kaer + imasu → kaerimasu • Add masen to form the polite negative kaer + imasen → kaerimasen • u-verbs end in one of the following nine hiragana letters • る ruく kuぐ guう uつ tsu • す suむ muぬ nuぶ bu • --------------------------------------- • 1 This is conceptual only; ka-e-r is not really possible in written Japanese. Japanese 1100-L10b-07-12-2012

5. Patterns of the Nine Kinds of u-verbs Plain Present Plain Present Plain Present Affirmative Negative Affirmative (Dictionary form) kaeru (to return) kaeranaikaerimasu kaku (to write) kakanaikakimasu oyogu (to swim) oyoganaioyogimasu kau (to buy) kawanaikaimasu matsu (to wait) matanaimachimasu hanasu (to speak) hanasanaihanashimasu nomu (to drink) nomanainomimasu shinu1 (to die) shinanaishinimasu asobu (to play) asobanaiasobimasu ------------------------------------ 1shinu is the only verb in Japanese that ends in nu Japanese 1100-L10b-07-12-2012

6. An Easy Set of Rules for u-verbs • Add –imasu to the stem of a u-verb to form the polite present affirmative • Add –imasen to the stem of a u-verb to form the polite present negative • The dictionary form of a u-verb is the plain present affirmative form (no change) • Add –anai to the stem of a u-verb to form the plain present negative form • If the u-verb stem ends in a vowel (a, i, u, e, or o) add wanaito the stem to form the • plain present negative form: • kau ka kawanai • ts in the last syllable of a verb in the dictionary form becomes t when followed by a • and ch when followed by the vowel i (tsu changes to ta or chi) • matsu matanai machimasu • sin the last syllable of a verb in the dictionary form becomes shwhen followed by the • vowel i (su changes to shi) • hanasu hanashimasu Japanese 1100-L10b-07-12-2012

7. Indeterminancy of eru/iru-ending Verbs • There are about half a dozen or so commonly used verbs that look like –ru verbs • but which are really u-verbs. • taberu(to eat) and kaeru (to return) both look like ru-verbs, but kaeru is a u-verb • If a verb ends in eru or iru, chances are that it is an ru-verb, but, until you learn which • common verbs are of each type, you cannot be sure • One way to remember is to learn the masu form of the u-verbs that look like ru-verbs • For example there are really two kaeru verbs: • 帰るkaeru (to return) is a u-verb, so its polite present affirmative is kaerimasu • 変える kaeru (to change) an ru-verb, so its polite present affirmative is kaemasu • Note that the two words have different kanji so there is no confusion in written • Japanese Japanese 1100-L10b-07-12-2012

8. Irregular Verbs • The two common irregular verbs are suru (to do) and kuru (to come) • Being irregular, they do not follow the rules for either ru-verbs or u-verbs • You must memorize the patterns of these two verbs, which are as follows: • Plain Plain Polite Polite • Present Present Present Present • Affirmative Negative Affirmative Negative • suru shinai shimasu shimasen • kuru konai kimasu kimasen Japanese 1100-L10b-07-12-2012

9. Some Slightly Irregular Verbs • The verb aru (to exist) is a u-verb, but its plain present negative form is nai, NOT • aranai • The verb irassharu (to exist, honorific form) is a u-verb, but its polite present • affirmative form is irasshaimasu NOT irassharimasu Japanese 1100-L10b-07-12-2012

10. Making the Polite Present Negative Forms of Verbs • When you know how to make the polite present affirmative (masu) form of verbs, • it is easy to make the polite present negative form • The negative counterpart of the masu suffix is masen, so just replace masu with • masen • taberu tabemasu tabemasen • iku ikimasu ikimasen • kaeru kaerimasu kaerimasen Japanese 1100-L10b-07-12-2012

11. Some Useful Action Verbs tabe-ru to eat ne-ru to sleep nom-u to drink tsukur-u to make kak-u to write mi-ru to look yom-u to read kik-u to listen hanas-u to speak Japanese 1100-L10b-07-12-2012