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Now, before you can start making up sentences of your own, you
need to learn how to conjugate Japanese verbs. Verbs are the most
important part of the Japanese sentence. Often times Japanese people
will leave out everything but the verb.
They are very big on leaving out the obvious and sometimes not so
obvious which can get confusing at times. There are only 3 types of
verbs in the Japanese language and they each follow a pattern that is
very simple and very rarely has any exceptions. Most Japanese verbs
fall into the first group, the Godan () verbs. These verbs always
conjugate the same way with only one exception. These verbs have
five changes that follow the order of the Japanese vowels (i.e. the
characters for that section of the hiragana chart), hence the name
Godan (meaning 5 levels or steps), and then the "te" and "ta" forms
that are common to all verbs. The chart below shows how to
conjugate Japanese Godan verbs:Base 1: Base 1 can not be used by
itself but becomes the plain form negative simply by adding -nai. (ex.
hanasanai - I won't say anything.) If the verb ends in (u) then the
end for Base 1 becomes (wa). (ex. au (Base 1) -> awa)
(Plain form is what people use when talking to a friend. It would not
be proper to use in a business environment. We will go over the polite
form in lesson 8.)
Base 2: Base 2 is, in most cases, a noun when used by itself but is
primarily used with the polite form of the verb.
Base 3: Base 3 is the main form (the one that would be found in the
dictionary) and is also the plain form present/future tense.
Base 4: Base 4 is most often used as "if verb" by adding -ba. (ex.
hanaseba - If he'd just say something.) It can also be used by itself as
a command form but it is extremely rude and I recommend not using
it at all.
Base 5: Base 5 is used by itself as the "let's" form. (ex. hanasou - Let's
talk.) We will get into other ways it's used in later lessons.
Base "te": Base "te" can be used by itself as a plain form command. It
is not rude but should only be used with close friends and children. By
adding kudasai it becomes the polite form command. Base "te" can
also be used in other ways that we will get into in later lessons.
Base "ta": Base "ta" is merely Base "te" with an "a" sound on the end
instead of an "e" sound. It is mainly used by itself as the plain form
past tense. (ex. hanashita - I talked.) We will get into other ways it's
used in later lessons.
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