Language Japanese Verb Conjugations

Below find an overview over all the Japanese verb conjugations, including all irregular verbs. For more specific information on how each conjugation is used refer to the appropriate links.

In modern Japanese, two types of words are conjugated

1. Verbs
2. Verbal Adjectives

Verbs have five conjugations in modern Japanese, verbal adjectives four:

1. Rentaikei (attributive form)
2. Ren’youkei (continuative form): this conjugation has many contractions. If you are unable to identify the conjugation, you are probably dealing with the ren’youkei.
3. Izenkei
4. Mizenkei (negative, subjunctive, causative, and passive forms): verbs ending on “-ou” have the mizenkei as conjugation.
5. Meireikei (imperative form): verbs only.

Verbs

Verbs are divided into two groups, known as Group 2 verbs (nidan katsu you 二段活用) and Group 4 verbs (yodan katsu you 四段活用). Each group has its conjugations. There are two irregular verbs and a group of five honorific verbs that have two irregular conjugations.

Verbs belong to Group 2 when the rentaikei conjugation ends on “-eru” or “-iru”.

There is a further distinction between these two as the lower Group 2, or shimo nidan katsu you (下二段活用), ending on “-eru”; and the higher Group 2, or kami nidan katsu you (上二段活用), ending on “-iru”, but for all practical purposes there is no difference between the two.


Note: There are verbs belonging to Group 4 where the rentaikei conjugation ends on “-iru” or “-eru”. All other verbs belong to Group 4.


Note: Pay special attention to the mizenkei of verbs ending on the hiragana う (u), this conjugation uses the hiragana わ (wa) instead of あ (a).

Irregular verbs

The two truly irregular verbs are “to do” and “to come”:


Note: There are various conjugations for the mizenkei for the verb する (suru). し (shi) is reserved for the negative form, せ (se) and さ (sa) is reserved for the causative form and the passive form. Particular attention needs to be paid to the ren’youkei and the mizenkei conjugations of 来る (kuru). Though they are written the same way, their pronunciations are different.

These honorific verbs have irregular ren’youkei and meireikei conjugations. All five verbs follow the same irregular pattern.

Verbal Adjectives

Verbal adjectives have only four conjugations in modern Japanese. The meireikei conjugation does not exist. There is one irregular verbal adjective: いい (ii).