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Conjugation wise, there are three types of Japanese verbs: ichidan verbs, godan verbs, and irregular verbs. Ichidan means "one step" and verbs are put into this category because they are conjugated rather easily. Other teaching methods refer to them as ru verbs or vowel verbs. The title godan, meaning "five step" will be explained later. Godan verbs are also known as "u" verbs or consonant verbs. Let's start with ichidan verbs first, since they are the simplest. Ichidan verbs All ichidan end with either -eru or -iru. So if you see a verb with any ending other than this, it's not an ichidan verb. Like I said, ichidans are relatively easy to conjugate and all you have to do to change a plain ichidan verb into the past tense, all you have to do is take the -ru off the end and replace it with -ta. taberu --> tabeta oshieru--> oshieta iru --> ita Godan verbs Godan verbs are not so easy, so I have them herded into some groups that conjugate similarly. -U, -TSU, -RU -MU, -NU, -BU -KU -GU -SU You can see that godan verbs may also end in -ru. This means that you have to learn whether any particular verb with -iru or -eru at the end is ichidan or godan. I would say that there are more ichidan verbs ending in -eru than godan verbs, and more godan verbs ending in -iru than ichidan. But there are a lot of both in both groups. To conjugate verbs that end in -u preceded by a vowel, -tsu or -ru , remove the final syllable (the ending) and replace it with -tta: matsu --> matta hashiru --> hashitta toru --> totta kau --> katta Verbs with -mu, -nu or bu conjugate by removing the ending and adding -nda: yomu --> yonda (there aren't very many -mu verbs) shinu --> shinda (this is the only -nu verb) yobu --> yonda (this is the same as for yomu, gotta look at context for these) tobu --> tonda For verbs with -ku, change it to -ita tataku --> tataita -gu changes to -ida isogu --> isoida and finally, Verbs with -su change it to -shita hanasu --> hanashita desu --> deshita There are four verbs that conjugate irregularly in the past tense: suru --> shita iku --> itta (this is its only irregular conjugation) kuru --> kita da --> datta You can use the past tense just as you would use the present tense. Simply put it at the end of the sentence. Uta o utatta. [Song oj sang.] [I] sang a song. Nihongo o hanashita. [Japanese oj spoke.] [I] spoke Japanese. Michio san ga tabeta. [Michio sj ate.] Michio ate./Michio has eaten. Kuruma o oshita. [Car oj pushed.] [She] pushed the car. This article was used with permission from: Japanese is Possible
