7.5. Japanese conjugation made easy! The super-simple key to all conjugations

Index

• No verbs end in ゆ.
• The only verb ending in ぬ is 死ぬ (しぬ) which means to die.

• There are four additional endings which verbs can have aside from their default う ending.
• The possible verb endings other than う are あ, い, え, and お.
• When switching a verb to use a different ending, it stops being a verb and becomes a “sticky stem”. It has an open stem for something to be attached to.
• ます (polite helper verb) is a helper verb.
• ます attaches to an い-stem.
• ます makes a transformed ichidan or godan verb formal.
• e.g かう (buy) → かいます (buy (formal))
• たい is a helper adjective.
• たい makes a transformed ichidan or godan verb a desire.
• たい attaches to an い row stem.
• e.g かう (buy) → かいたい (desirable to purchase).
• e.g きく (hear) → ききたい (desirable to hear).
• The い row stems are also used to append nouns to verbs which converts them into a new noun.
• e.g のむ (to drink) → のみもの (thing for drinking (lit. drink thing)).
• e.g はなす　(to speak) → はなしかた (way of speaking).
• Ichidan verbs do not have different stems. The る　is removed and nouns can then be attached to it.
• e.g たべる (eat) → たべます (eat (formal)).
• e.g たべる (eat) → たべたい (desirable to eat).
• e.g たべる (eat) → たべもの (thing for eating (lit. eat thing)).
• Verbs which end in う do not transition to あ when changing the verb to the あ stem. They change to わ.
• The あ row stems are used for attaching the helper adjective ない.
• ない negates an ichidan or godan verb.
• e.g はなす (speak) → はなさない (not speak).
• せる is the causative helper verb for godan verbs.
• させる is the causative helper verb for ichidan verbs.
• せる/させる marks an ichidan or godan verb as being caused.
• せる attaches to あ row stems.
• e.g かう (eat) → かわせる (make to buy/cause to buy).
• e.g はなす (speak) → はなさせる (make to speak/cause to speak).
• e.g たべる (eat) → たべさせる (make to eat/cause to eat).
• れる (godan receptive) is the receptive helper verb for godan verbs.
• られる is the receptive helper verb for ichidan verbs.
• The receptive helper verb marks an ichidan or godan verb as being received.
• れる/られる attaches to あ row stems.
• e.g かう (buy) → かわれる (get bought).
• e.g きく (hear) → きかれる (get heard).
• e.g たべる (eat) → たべられる (get eaten).
• る is the potential helper verb for godan verbs.
• る is attached to え row stems.
• られる is the potential helper verb for ichidan verbs.
• The potential helper verb marks an ichidan or godan verb as being possible.
• e.g かう (buy) → かえる (can buy).
• e.g たべる　(eat) → たべられる (can eat).
• う is the volitional helper verb for godan verbs.
• よう　is the volitional helper verb for ichidan verbs.
• e.g かう (buy) → かおう (lets buy).
• e.g きく (hear) → きこう (lets hear/lets listen).
• e.g たべる (eat) → たべよう (lets eat).
• The volitional can also be applied to ます.
• e.g いきます　(go (formal)) → いきましょう (lets go (formal)).
• The volitional helper verb marks an ichidan or godan verb as being something to act towards.