Japanese/Conjugating Godan verbs

五段 (Godan) Verbs

Remember the order of vowels from the Pronunciation guide? Just to refresh your memory, they go あ, い, う, え, お. There are 5 sounds obviously, and it is this number that the conjugation gets its name from. Template:Ruby-ja, "Go" means "5," and Template:Ruby-ja, "dan" means "stage."

Japanese verbs have a different style of conjugation completely than our verbs. They conjugate to express not only time, but certain feelings we would express using more words. 五段 verbs are ALL verbs that do not end with "-いるiru" or "-えるeru", and are not "するsuru" or "くるkuru." All verbs ending with the letters -iru and -eru are ichidan verbs (one stage), and "kuru" and "suru" are the only two irregular verbs in Japanese.

The conjugation follows this pattern:

• あA negative form
• Iい infinitive form
• Uう dictionary form
• Eえ conditional form
• Oお "let's" or "volitional" form

In order to show you how this works, let's select one godan verb: Iku, which means "to go" and follow it through a full five conjugations. Conjugation deals only with changing the vowel at the end of the original dictionary form verb, and sometimes adding a suffix. The Dictionary form is so called because this is the way you will find a verb in the dictionary, it will always end with "u" in this form without exception.

Negative

Iku, when changed to negative, must first take the vowel with which this form is associated as its last vowel. Since the negative form is associated with A, Iku drops the "u" from its dictionary form past and becomes "Ika". In a case where you have a word like Au, (to meet) you will note that this would turn into "aa-nai" in the negative under these rules. For such silliness an escape is provided. the "a" you add on in the end becomes "wa" thus, "Awa-nai". Remebering that the raw verb of Iku begins in the dictionary form (u-form) is tantamount to remembering that you do not add the vowel in conjugation, you replace it. Iku becomes Ika. The next step is to add the negative suffix to the word Ika. This suffix is "nai." The negative form of Iku is Ikanai: "not go."

Infinitive

Infinitive form is the form onto which you may add either other verbs, other levels of honour, or both. It is also the base form from which the standard "desu-masu" Japanese is spoken. This is the kind of Japanese this course will teach you.

The ininitive form is almost a stand-alone form. You can speak using only what is provided in this conjugation almost without need for others in very basic Japanese. In order to change the dictionary form to infinitive form, we drop the "u" and add "i", making our "Iku" become "Iki". Onto the new-made "Iki" we affix "-masu" as a suffix, making the complete word Ikimasu: "go".

As I said, this form is pretty stand-alone, and onto the positive for this form, you may add another suffix to make it negative. Change the "-masu" to "-masen" and you have your negative: Ikimasen, meaning "not go".

Dictionary

As said previously, dictionary form is the standardized form for finding verbs in dictionaries. This is the form that has all verbs, regardless of conjugation schemes, with a "u" at the end invariably.

Imperative/Conditional

The E form is used in giving commands, suggestions, or making hypothetical statements. There is occasionally no suffix to this form. To change Iku to the imperative, drop the "u" and add "e." The imperative form of "Iku" is "Ike." DO NOT SAY IKE TO ANYBODY, it's a cussin' word. When you add the suffix "-ba" to this form, it becomes a true conditional. "Ikeba" could variously be translated to "why don't you go?" or "what if you went?" You might also hear the phrase "ikeba wakaru." Wakaru is dictionary form of the verb to know or understand. This phrase therefore means "IF (you) went, (you'd) understand."

Volitional

The O form is the one that is confusing to most English speakers. It is the "let's" form. If I were to change Iku to the volitional form, I drop the "u" and add "ou." The suffix in this case is not easy to notice, as it is a "u." This simply extends the o sound. Iku becomes Ikou: "let's go." The word Ikimasu may also be conjugated in this form, simply converting the "-masu" ending to a "-mashou," making the whole word "Ikimashou."

Practice

Conjugate these verbs in all five forms:

• Arau (to wash)
• Au (to meet)
• Gambaru (to do well)
• Iku (to go)
• Iu (to say)
• Kaku (to write/draw/paint)
• Kau (to buy)
• Kiku (to hear)
• Kudaru (to go down/descend)
• Kuu (to eat -> informal)
• Mawaru (to turn)
• Naru (to become)
• Noboru (to climb)
• Nomu (to drink)
• Noru (to board/enter/mount)
• Odoru (to dance)
• Okoru (to get mad)
• Omou (to think)
• Saboru (to skip, ie. class)
• Satoru (to enter 'satori')
• Shinu (to die)
• Tanomu (to request)
• Tatsu (to stand)
• Tobu (to fly)
• Toru (to take)
• Uru (to sell)
• Wakaru (to understand)
• Yaku (to burn/roast)