Verb Dictionary Form
Learn the most basic form of Japanese verbs and how to use it to express ability, nominalize verbs, and describe sequences.
Introduction to Dictionary Form
Every Japanese verb has a Dictionary Form — the form you find when you look a verb up. For example, 食べる (to eat), 書く (to write), and する (to do) are all in dictionary form.
This is the starting point for learning Japanese verbs. All other conjugations — past tense, negative, polite, te-form, and so on — are built by modifying the dictionary form. To conjugate correctly, you first need to know which of the three verb groups a verb belongs to, since each group follows different rules.
This page introduces the three verb groups and how to identify them. Once you are comfortable here, the other conjugation pages will show you how to transform these forms.
Japanese verbs are divided into three groups based on their conjugation patterns. Knowing the group is essential for understanding how verbs change.
These verbs end in one of nine 'u' sounds (u, ku, gu, su, tsu, nu, bu, mu, ru). They are called 'Godan' because their stem can change across five vowels.
| Verb | Hiragana | Romaji |
|---|---|---|
| 買う | かう | kau |
| 待つ | まつ | matsu |
| 帰る | かえる | kaeru |
| 飲む | のむ | nomu |
| 死ぬ | しぬ | shinu |
| 遊ぶ | あそぶ | asobu |
| 書く | かく | kaku |
| 泳ぐ | およぐ | oyogu |
| 話す | はなす | hanasu |
| 行く | いく | iku |
Conjugation Examples
- I will buy a book tomorrow.
明日、本を買う。
- I will wait for my friend at the station.
駅で友達を待つ。
- I drink water every day.
毎日水を飲む。
- I speak in Japanese.
日本語で話す。