日本語 · The Verb System

Pond

Still water holds a whole reflection at once. This is the Japanese verb system in the same way — every class, every form, one surface. Collapse it into a bare table when you want a reference, open any cell when you want the reason.

Godan conjugation is not a list of endings to memorise. It is one kana sliding along its row, plus three sound changes. Everything in the tables below is built from this chart.

ends in	あ	い	う	え	お
く	か	き	く	け	こ
ぐ	が	ぎ	ぐ	げ	ご
す	さ	し	す	せ	そ
む	ま	み	む	め	も
ぬ	な	に	ぬ	ね	の
ぶ	ば	び	ぶ	べ	ぼ
つ	た	ち	つ	て	と
る	ら	り	る	れ	ろ
う	わ	い	う	え	お

Nine endings, five bases. Every godan form in the language is one of these forty-five kana plus a suffix — except the past and the て-form, which take a sound change instead.

The three sound changes

Past and て-form are the same change with the last character swapped: た → て, だ → で. Learn one column and the other comes free.

く・ぐ・す

く→いて・ぐ→いで・す→して

The ending softens to い (and す keeps its し). ぐ drags its voicing onto the て, giving で.

む・ぬ・ぶ

む・ぬ・ぶ → んで

All three nasal endings collapse to ん, and the voicing turns て into で.

つ・る・う

つ・る・う → って

The ending clips into a glottal stop. Three different endings, one identical result.

行く is the one exception in the whole godan class: it ends in く but takes the っ change — 行って / 行った, never 行いて.

Five-row verbs: the final kana slides up and down the あいうえお row it belongs to. Most verbs in the language are godan, and all of the system's difficulty lives here.

Showing 5 of 12 forms

Verb	now辞書形do / will do	negative否定does not do	past過去did	past neg.過去否定did not do	て-formidentical to plainconnector — no meaning alone
い・し familyく→いて・ぐ→いで・す→してThe ending softens to い (and す keeps its し). ぐ drags its voicing onto the て, giving で.




ん familyむ・ぬ・ぶ → んでAll three nasal endings collapse to ん, and the voicing turns て into で.



っ familyつ・る・う → ってThe ending clips into a glottal stop. Three different endings, one identical result.

One-row verbs: drop る and attach. One stem serves every form, with no base swaps and no sound changes anywhere in the paradigm.

Showing 5 of 12 forms

Verb	now辞書形do / will do	negative否定does not do	past過去did	past neg.過去否定did not do	て-formidentical to plainconnector — no meaning alone

There are two. They are also the two most common verbs in Japanese, so the memorisation pays for itself within a week.

Showing 5 of 12 forms

Verb	now辞書形do / will do	negative否定does not do	past過去did	past neg.過去否定did not do	て-formidentical to plainconnector — no meaning alone

て-form means nothing on its own. It is a connector, and learning it hands you this entire column of patterns at once — which is why it is worth the trouble the sound changes cost.

pattern	meaning	example

ends in	あ	い	う	え	お
く	か	き	く	け	こ
ぐ	が	ぎ	ぐ	げ	ご
す	さ	し	す	せ	そ
む	ま	み	む	め	も
ぬ	な	に	ぬ	ね	の
ぶ	ば	び	ぶ	べ	ぼ
つ	た	ち	つ	て	と
る	ら	り	る	れ	ろ
う	わ	い	う	え	お

ends in	あ	い	う	え	お
く	か	き	く	け	こ
ぐ	が	ぎ	ぐ	げ	ご
す	さ	し	す	せ	そ
む	ま	み	む	め	も
ぬ	な	に	ぬ	ね	の
ぶ	ば	び	ぶ	べ	ぼ
つ	た	ち	つ	て	と
る	ら	り	る	れ	ろ
う	わ	い	う	え	お

ends in	あ	い	う	え	お
く	か	き	く	け	こ
ぐ	が	ぎ	ぐ	げ	ご
す	さ	し	す	せ	そ
む	ま	み	む	め	も
ぬ	な	に	ぬ	ね	の
ぶ	ば	び	ぶ	べ	ぼ
つ	た	ち	つ	て	と
る	ら	り	る	れ	ろ
う	わ	い	う	え	お